CLINICAL AND LABORATORY CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH MYASTHENIA GRAVIS: AN EXPERIENCE FROM UNIVERSITY CLINICAL HOSPITAL MOSTAR

Introduction: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an important health problemthat affects significant number of patients. Proper understanding of the disease characteristics is important for adequate therapeutic approach. Aim: The aim of our study was to determine clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with MG that were cured at the University Clinical Hospital Mostar. Subjects and methods: Data from the University Hospital Mostar Registry were used. In our study, we included all patients with MG (n=39), over the age of 18, regardless of gender, who regularly visit outpatient clinic. We analyzed following parameters: age, gender, clinical presentation, antibodies (AChR, MuSK), associated comorbidities, therapy, disease history, thymus pathology and applied treatment. Results: MG occurred more often in female patients (58%). In female patients, MG occurred mostly at the age range from 30-70 years, compared to male patients where MG mostly occurred at the age range from 50-90 years. Generalized form of MG was present in 74.36% of patients, and 25.64% had the ocular form. Anti-AChR antibodies were positive in 78.38%, anti-MuSK in 5.41% and 16.22% of patients were seronegative. The prostigmine test was positive in 97.37% and negative in 2.63% of patients. Among the initial symptoms, the most patients had ptosis and fatigue, while dysarthria, dysphagia, and diplopia were less common signs. Conclusion: Based on our study we can conclude that MG mostly affects older female population. The most of the patients had positive Anti-AChR antibodies and positive prostigmine test. Keywords: myasthenia gravis, anti AChR, anti MuSK, pyridostigmine, corticosteroids