Association of myasthenia gravis and Behçet's disease: A case report

Myasthenia gravis is a disease of neuromuscular junction due to auto-immune destruction of the acetylcholine receptors. Behçet's disease, on the other hand, is a multisystemic vascular-inflammatory disease. Both conditions are not common in the general population although their association has not been reported in the literature. We wanted to present our patient who developed clinical course of myasthenia gravis following discontinuation of medications due to complications of corticosteroid for Behçet's disease. It was observed that clinical findings of myasthenia gravis recovered following restarting steroid treatment and he did not experience attacks of both conditions. Although Myasthenia gravis and Behçet's disease are distinct entities clinically as well as in terms of pathogenesis, they share common physiopathological features and their treatment is based on their common features

Risk for generalization in ocular onset myasthenia gravis: experience from a neuro-ophthalmology clinic

WOS:000615127200002PubMed: 33544334Conversion to generalized myasthenia gravis (GMG) within the first 2 years has been reported in 18-85% of patients with ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG). The aim of the study was to investigate the risk factors for generalization in patients with OMG admitted to a neuro-ophthalmology clinic and to determine if there were differences between patients with GMG with predominant bulbar (GMG-B) or extremity muscle (GMG-E) involvement according to the 6th and 24th-month Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America classification ranks. Patients with OMG who were followed-up for at least 24 months were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic, clinical, laboratory features and treatment strategies that can be associated with generalization and time to generalization were evaluated. of the 139 patients with OMG, 54 (39%) showed generalization with a mean time of 10.3 (range 2-24) months. GMG-B and GMG-E were diagnosed in 31 (22.3%) and 23 patients (16.5%), respectively. Seropositivity for acetylcholine receptor and muscle-specific tyrosine kinase antibodies, abnormal single-fiber electromyography (SFEMG), and the presence of thymic abnormalities (thymoma and hyperplasia) were factors associated with generalization on multivariate analysis without a significant difference between the GMG-B and GMG-E groups. in addition, an abnormal repetitive nerve stimulation test was related to a shortened time to generalization. Bilateral ptosis at onset was found as a risk factor for generalization. in a neuro-ophthalmology clinic, bilateral ptosis as an initial feature of OMG must be approached cautiously because it may be the first sign of impending GMG

What is the optimal dose of acetazolamide in the treatment of idiopathic intracranial hypertension

2-s2.0-85082674945Objective: Acetazolamide is preferred as the first-line drug for the medical treatment of idiopathic intracranial hypertension. In this study, the efficacy of different doses of the drug on visual functions; visual acuity, optic disc appearance-papilledema grade and visual field-mean deviation (VF-MD) were evaluated. Methods: The medical records of 73 patients diagnosed as idiopathic intracranial hypertension based on Modified Dandy Criteria and treated with acetazolamide who were on follow-up between 2010 and 2017 at the Neuro-ophthalmology Unit of Ege University Medical School, Department of Neurology were analyzed. Improvement in the visual functions at the end of the sixth month in three groups taking different doses of the drug; low (500, 750, 1000 mg/day), moderate (1500, 1750, 2000 mg/day) and high (3000, 4000 mg/day) were compared. Results: Improvement in visual acuity (p: 0.784), was not affected from different doses of the drug whereas papilledema grade (p: 0.014) and VF-MD (p<0.001) were affected. Binary comparisons revealed significant improvement in the high dose group when compared with the moderate and low dose groups both for the papilledema grade (low-high: p: 0.003, moderate-high: p: 0.024) and VF-MD (low-high: p<0.001, moderate-high: p: 0.001) Conclusion: Treatment with high doses of acetazolamide is associated with improvement in visual field defects and regression of optic disc edema in idiopathic intracranial hypertension. © 2020, ASEAN Neurological Association. All rights reserved

What is the optimal dose of acetazolamide in the treatment of idiopathic intracranial hypertension

Objective: Acetazolamide is preferred as the first-line drug for the medical treatment of idiopathic intracranial hypertension. In this study, the efficacy of different doses of the drug on visual functions; visual acuity, optic disc appearance-papilledema grade and visual field-mean deviation (VF-MD) were evaluated. Methods: The medical records of 73 patients diagnosed as idiopathic intracranial hypertension based on Modified Dandy Criteria and treated with acetazolamide who were on follow-up between 2010 and 2017 at the Neuro-ophthalmology Unit of Ege University Medical School, Department of Neurology were analyzed. Improvement in the visual functions at the end of the sixth month in three groups taking different doses of the drug; low (500, 750, 1000 mg/day), moderate (1500, 1750, 2000 mg/day) and high (3000, 4000 mg/day) were compared. Results: Improvement in visual acuity (p: 0.784), was not affected from different doses of the drug whereas papilledema grade (p: 0.014) and VF-MD (p<0.001) were affected. Binary comparisons revealed significant improvement in the high dose group when compared with the moderate and low dose groups both for the papilledema grade (low-high: p: 0.003, moderate-high: p: 0.024) and VF-MD (low-high: p<0.001, moderate-high: p: 0.001) Conclusion: Treatment with high doses of acetazolamide is associated with improvement in visual field defects and regression of optic disc edema in idiopathic intracranial hypertension. © 2020, ASEAN Neurological Association. All rights reserved

Airplane headache: An atypical case with autonomic symptoms and long duration

WOS:000616431700026Airplane Headache (AH) which is classified under headache attributed to disorder of homeostasis in International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD)-3 is a severe, unilateral, orbitofrontal headache that occurs during and caused by airplane travel. It remits after landing. AH cases with autonomic symptoms had rarely been reported. We present a 35-year-old male complained of five attacks of right-sided, unilateral, orbitofrontal headache accompanied with lacrimation, conjunctival injection and eye redness ipsilaterally, starting 20-30 minutes prior to landing. The headache duration varied between 30-90 minutes. AH diagnosis was made in the light of anamnesis and neurological examination. The secondary causes and primary headaches with autonomic symptoms were ruled out. As far as we know this is the first reported longer duration AH case with autonomic symptoms in the literature. AH is an underdiagnosed headache. We report this atypical AH case to call attention to this rare but treatable headache