Tongue force in patients with myasthenia gravis.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to study tongue force in patients with bulbar myasthenia gravis and compare it with that of patients with ocular myasthenia gravis, patients in clinical remission who previously suffered from bulbar myasthenia gravis, and healthy subjects.


METHODS
Tongue force was measured with a tongue force transducer in cranial and lateral directions, which coincide with the directions in which the tongue exerts force during swallowing, speech, and mastication.


RESULTS
Tongue force in lateral direction was significantly decreased in patients with bulbar myasthenia gravis. In addition, our findings suggest an incomplete recovery of lateral tongue force in the patients of the remission group.


CONCLUSIONS
Our tongue force measurements may be useful for longitudinal evaluation of therapy in individual patients and also in studies of therapy efficacy in matched groups of patients if the influence of factors such as age, dental state, and sex is taken into account.
Weijnen
F G
FG
Department of Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery, Prosthodontics and Special Dental Care, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. F.G.Weijnen@med.uu.nl
Kuks
J B
JB
van der Bilt
A
A
van der Glas
H W
HW
Wassenberg
M W
MW
Bosman
F
F
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009213:Myography / Q000295:instrumentation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014059:Tongue