Newswise — Myasthenia gravis is a disorder than can be associated with abnormal function outside of skeletal muscle. Two studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) demonstrate that there is a significant proportion of myasthenia patients with arrhythmias and co-morbid inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
In a study presented by Rachana Gandhi, MD, 16 out of 100 patients with myasthenia gravis also had arrhythmias. Eleven had atrial flutter/fibrillation and five had sick sinus syndrome. Interestingly, those that underwent a thymectomy were less likely to have arrhythmias. A study from the Universidade Federal do Ceara in Brazil evaluated the presence of autoimmune IBD in patients with myasthenia gravis. While the likelihood of two autoimmune diseases existing in a single patient was estimate at 0.2%, in the population with myasthenia gravis, 0.9% also had IBD.
The two studies suggest that the pathology of myasthenia gravis is more far reaching than just the acetylcholine receptors (AChR) of the skeletal muscle neuromuscular junction.
The AANEM 61st Annual Meeting is October 29 through November 1, 2014, in Savannah, GA. It is the premier meeting focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular diseases and electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine. View other research from the meeting at www.aanem.org/meeting/abstracts.aspx.
Follow AANEM on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for meeting updates. Visit www.aanem.org for more information about the association.
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