Experience with extracorporeal elimination therapy in myasthenia gravis.
We describe our experience with plasma exchange (PE) and immunoadsorption in patients with myasthenia gravis. The group of 27 patients consists of 21 patients treated with PE and 6 patients who received immunoadsorption. PE therapy led to stabilization in 20 patients. In patients treated with immunoadsorption, therapy could be discontinued in 2 patients after 13 months of therapy, and the other 4 patients were stabilized without myasthenic crises after 6-9 years of therapy. Extracorporeal elimination therapy through PE or immunoadsorption is effective and sometimes life saving and is safe in the hands of an experienced team (6% complication rate).
2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Charles University, Faculty of Medicine and Teaching Hospital, 500 05 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. blaham@email.cz
Milan
M
Blaha
Jiri
J
Pitha
Vladimir
V
Blaha
Miriam
M
Lanska
Jaroslav
J
Maly
Stanislav
S
Filip
Miroslav
M
Brndiar
Hana
H
Langrova
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006440:Hemofiltration / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000628:therapy*; D010951:Plasma Exchange / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors