Myasthenia Gravis

The Myasthenia Gravis topic includes research on the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of myasthenia gravis, a chronic disease that causes weakness in voluntary muscles.

This autoimmune disease is not inherited, although myasthenia gravis may occur in more than one family member. It affects both men and women in all racial and ethnic groups and can occur at any age, though it usually presents in women under 40 and men over 60. The severity of the disease or degree of muscle weakness it causes ranges broadly.

The most common symptoms are weakness in the ocular muscles or eyelid drooping, blurred vision, impaired speech, and weakness in the arms, hands, fingers, legs, and neck. In a myasthenic crisis, a person may have such difficulty breathing that they require ventilation.

Myasthenia gravis causes a body’s antibodies to block, alter, or destroy muscle cells’ receptors of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This means the muscles do not receive the signal to contract. There is no cure currently for the disease.