Myasthenia

myasthenia [‚mī·əs·thēn·ē·ə]

(medicine)

Muscular weakness.

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Myasthenia 

(asthenic bulbar paralysis, asthenic ophthalmoplegia, pseudobulbar paralysis, Erb-Goldflam disease), a neuromuscular disease characterized by the pathological, rapid fatigability of striated muscles.

The onset of myasthenia usually occurs between the ages of 20 and 40 years; women are more frequently affected, Autoimmune processes play a part in the development of the disease; antibodies have been discovered in muscle tissue and in the thymus gland. The muscles of the eyelids are often affected and there is ptosis, which varies in degree during the day; the masticatory muscles are affected, swallowing is disrupted, and the gait changes. Treatment includes anticholinesterase preparations, vitamins (especially B-group), general restorative treatment, and sometimes the removal of the thymus gland.

REFERENCES

Lobzin, V. S. Miasteniia. Leningrad, 1960.
Shefer, D. G. Gipotalamicheskie (dientsefal’nye) sindromy, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1971.