title: Myasthenia gravis with membranous nephropathy, successfully treated with extended total thymectomy.
abstract: A 46-year-old woman showed proteinuria and hematuria after left blepharoptosis, and revealed a histopathology of membranous nephropathy (MN) at renal biopsy. She was diagnosed as having myasthenia gravis (MG) because of a positive edrophonium test and anti-acetylcholine receptor (AchR) antibodies in serum. We found a decrease in anti-AchR antibodies after extended total thymectomy, in parallel with an improvement in both urinary findings and myasthenic symptoms. In this case, MG preceded MN and the thymectomy was effective for both diseases, suggesting that the thymus might play an important role in the pathogenesis of MN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Saku Central Hospital, Usuda, Nagano.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikezoe
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishizawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishigame
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D015433:Glomerulonephritis, Membranous / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D012074:Remission Induction; D013934:Thymectomy / Q000379:methods*