Immunotherapy of Ocular Myasthenia Gravis Reduces Conversion to Generalized Myasthenia Gravis
- 1 December 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology
- Vol. 23 (4), 251-255
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00041327-200312000-00002
Abstract
Several retrospective studies have suggested that immunotherapy, including prednisolone, azathioprine and thymectomy, reduces progression of ocular myasthenia gravis to generalized myasthenia gravis. This study examines the effect of immunotherapy on generalization rates in ocular myasthenia patients who are acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody-positive. Retrospective record review of 34 patients from three university-based hospitals with neurology and neuro-ophthalmology services in Australia. In all patients, positive AChR antibodies were recorded, the initial symptoms were purely ocular, and all had at least 2 years of follow-up. The patients who developed generalized myasthenia gravis were compared with those who remained purely ocular. There were 21 patients who developed generalized myasthenia gravis. Of these 21, only 2 (9.5%) had received prior immunotherapy. Among the 13 patients whose symptoms remained purely ocular, 10 (76.9%) had received prior immunotherapy. In this study, most of the patients who progressed from ocular myasthenia to generalized myasthenia had not received prior immunotherapy. This study adds weight to the call for a prospective trial of early immunotherapy in patients with ocular myasthenia.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ocular myasthenia gravis: response to long-term immunosuppressive treatment.Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 1997
- Beneficial Effects of Corticosteroids on Ocular Myasthenia GravisArchives of Neurology, 1996
- Ocular myasthenia: A protean disorderSurvey of Ophthalmology, 1994
- The natural course of myasthenia gravis: a long term follow up study.Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 1989
- The Course of Myasthenia Gravis and Therapies Affecting OutcomeaAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1987
- Acetylcholine receptor antibody as a diagnostic test for myasthenia gravis: results in 153 validated cases and 2967 diagnostic assays.Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 1985
- Thymectomy in myasthenia with pure ocular symptoms.Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 1985
- Myasthenia GravisPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,1983
- Prognosis of ocular myastheniaAnnals of Neurology, 1983
- Humoral immunity in myasthenia gravisNeurology, 1980