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Thymoma-Associated Myasthenia Gravis

  • Chapter
Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders

Part of the book series: Current Clinical Neurology ((CCNEU))

Abstract

Seropositive myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease caused by autoantibodies to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) at the neuromuscular junction (1,2). By contrast, seronegative MG in many patients results from autoantibodies to muscle-specific tyrosine kinases (MuSK) at the endplate (3). Thymoma-associated MG (paraneoplastic MG) is a seropositive MG subtype. Thymoma has an adverse effect on survival among MG patients (4). Thymic pathology occurs in 80–90% of MG patients and is most subtle in seronegative MG (5,6). There are significant associations between different thymic alterations and clinical ifndings (7–9) (Table 1). Prior to highlighting the peculiarities of thymoma-associated MG, we begin with a brief review of MG with thymic lymphofollicular hyperplasia (TFH) and thymic atrophy.

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Authors
  1. Alexander Marx
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  2. Philipp Stroebel
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Neurology and Neurosciences, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Henry J. Kaminski MD

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Marx, A., Stroebel, P. (2003). Thymoma-Associated Myasthenia Gravis. In: Kaminski, H.J. (eds) Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders. Current Clinical Neurology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-341-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-341-5_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5942-6

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