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Neuromuscular disease

Acute treatment for myasthenia gravis

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 7, pages 132–134 (2011)Cite this article

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Acute exacerbations of myasthenia gravis (MG) need effective and urgent treatment because of life-threatening hypoventilation. Plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) are both effective for acute MG. A new study suggests that these treatments produce similar patient outcomes and complications, with IVIg perhaps being superior from an economic perspective.

Evidence from randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials should be the basis for finding effective treatments for patients. New therapies should be compared with present best practice in controlled studies with sufficient power to confirm superior outcome for patients. For acute myasthenia gravis (MG), such an evidence base is not currently available. Present treatment strategies are mainly based on updated expert guidelines, recommendations and reviews,1,2 but the scientific evidence for these recommendations is insufficient. Thus, a new study by Mandawat et al.3 assessing the use of plasma exchange (PLEX) versus intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) in patients with acute MG is welcome (Box 1).

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  1. Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, PO Box 7800, Bergen, 5020, Norway

    Nils Erik Gilhus

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  1. Nils Erik Gilhus
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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Gilhus, N. Acute treatment for myasthenia gravis. Nat Rev Neurol 7, 132–134 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2011.14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2011.14

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