Advanced search×

Myasthenia gravis appearing after thymectomy

Xin-Gang XG Sun, Yan-Li YL Wang, Yun-Hai YH Liu, Ning N Zhang, Xiao-Ling XL Yin, and Wen-Juan WJ Zhang

J Clin Neurosci 18(1):4 (2011) PMID 20888239

We aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with postoperative myasthenia gravis (MG). We retrospectively studied the data of 174 thymoma patients treated between 1990 and 2008 in Xiangya Hospital. Six of 125 patients without preoperative MG (4.8%) developed postoperative MG. The anti-acetylcholine-receptor binding antibody (ARAb) titers were elevated preoperatively in 22 of the 125 patients (17.6%) who did not have preoperative MG (range, 0.5-67.6nmol/L). Four of six patients with postoperative MG had positive ARAb levels preoperatively. Serum titers were exacerbated in all six patients at the onset of postoperative MG. Postoperative MG was responsive to anti-cholinesterase compounds and/or steroids. We concluded that a thymectomy did not prevent postoperative MG. Exacerbated ARAb levels after thymectomy suggested an extrathymic production of ARAb. We suggest that a rise in the ARAb titer might be a risk indictor for post-thymectomy MG.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2010.05.018
Version: za2963e q8zab q8zbc q8zcb q8zd5 q8ze8 q8zfc q8zgf

Similar articles you may find interesting…

  1. Antibody repertoire development in fetal and neonatal piglets. XIII. Hybrid VH genes and the preimmune repertoire revisited.
    John E JE Butler, Patrick P Weber, and Nancy N Wertz

    J Immunol 177(8):5459-70 (2006) PMID 17015732

    We studied > 3000 cloned VDJs and found that such hybrids can contribute up to 10% of the preimmune repertoire. Based on the 1) recovery of hybrid VH genes from bacterial artificial chromosome clones, 2) frequency of occurrence of certain hybrids in the preimmune repertoire, and 3) failure to recove...
  2. Investigation of the allergenic potential of wines fined with various proteinogenic fining agents by ELISA.
    Patrick P Weber, Hans H Steinhart, and Angelika A Paschke

    J Agric Food Chem 55(8):3127-33 (2007) PMID 17381115

    Hidden allergens are a common problem in food safety that has been known for many years. This is why the European Parliament adopted Directive 2003/89/EC amending 2000/13/EC. In addition to specific ingredients, Directive 2003/89/EC also requests the declaration of specific products that were used i...
  3. Antibody repertoire development in fetal and neonatal piglets: XIX. Undiversified B cells with hydrophobic HCDR3s preferentially proliferate...
    John E JE Butler, Caitlin D CD Lemke, ... Kelly M KM Lager

    J Immunol 178(10):6320-31 (2007) PMID 17475861

    We believe that the hypergammaglobulinemia results from the products of these cells. We speculate that PRRSV infection generates a product that engages the BCR of naive B cells, displaying the AMVLV and similar motifs in HCDR3 and resulting in their T-independent proliferation without repertoire div...