Description of 3 patients with myasthenia gravis and COVID-19

Netaniel Rein*, Nitzan Haham, Efrat Orenbuch-Harroch, Marc Romain, Zohar Argov, Adi Vaknin-Dembinsky, Marc Gotkine

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presents two main concerns for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG); chronic immunosuppression may put them at greater risk, and some proposed treatments for COVID-19 could cause MG exacerbation. Case description: We present three patients with generalized seropositive MG who developed COVID-19. All patients had a favorable outcome, with only one patient experiencing exacerbation. In this case, exacerbation began before COVID-19; she required ICU admission, non-invasive ventilatory support, and received hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir and ritonavir which were well tolerated. One patient received IVIG in place of scheduled plasma exchange. Conclusion: Outcome was favorable in all cases despite immunosuppressive therapy, use of experimental COVID-19 medication and switching of plasma exchange for IVIG.

Original languageEnglish
Article number117053
JournalJournal of the Neurological Sciences
Volume417
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Oct 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Myasthenia
  • Neuroimmunology
  • Neuromuscular

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Description of 3 patients with myasthenia gravis and COVID-19'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this