Plasmapheresis in Severe Forms of Myasthenia Gravis
| Autor: | Carlo Umberto Casciani, Maria D. Caramia, Carlo Meloni, Massimo Taccone Gallucci, C. Galderisi, Cesare Iani, Giorgio Bernardi, G. Palombo, Massimo Morosetti |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1998 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Adolescent Exacerbation medicine.medical_treatment Anti-Inflammatory Agents Biomedical Engineering Administration Oral Medicine (miscellaneous) Bioengineering Biomaterials Prednisone Myasthenia Gravis medicine Humans Combined Modality Therapy Aged business.industry Plasmapheresis General Medicine Middle Aged medicine.disease Myasthenia gravis Clinical trial Treatment Outcome Anesthesia Concomitant Physical therapy Combined therapy Female business Follow-Up Studies medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Artificial Organs. 22:129-134 |
| ISSN: | 1525-1594 0160-564X |
| DOI: | 10.1046/j.1525-1594.1998.05061.x |
| Popis: | In this study we introduce a new combination treatment of plasma exchange (PE) and high daily doses of prednisone for severe forms of myasthenia gravis (MG). The clinical efficacy of the combined therapy has been tested in 18 patients suffering from severe forms of MG. The protocol included 5 sessions of PE, performed in a range of 15 days, 1 session every 3 days, with concurrent administration of oral prednisone (1 mg/kg of body weight), starting at the first session of PE and given daily for at least 3 months. At the end of the entire cycle of PE, almost complete recovery (more than 90% of the initial clinical score) was obtained in 8 of 18 patients while an improvement between 60 and 90% of the initial score was achieved in 9 of 18 patients. An early improvement was noted 24 h after the beginning of plasmapheresis in 11 of 18 patients. No recurrence of symptoms was reported after 36 months of follow-up for 17 patients. The administration of steroid therapy was never followed by an early exacerbation of myasthenic symptoms as reported when it is administered in the absence of concomitant PE. According to our results, we can conclude that high doses of oral prednisone therapy in simultaneous association with PE lead to successful control of severe forms of MG, significantly superior to the therapeutic strategies until now adopted and reported in literature. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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