Disease or Syndrome
myasthenia gravis
my·as·the·ni·a gra·vis
Subclass of:
Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System;
Paraneoplastic Syndromes, Nervous System;
Neuromuscular Junction Diseases
Definitions related to myasthenia gravis:
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A chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disorder characterized by skeletal muscle weakness. It is caused by the blockage of the acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction.NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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A disease in which antibodies made by a person's immune system prevent certain nerve-muscle interactions. It causes weakness in the arms and legs, vision problems, and drooping eyelids or head. It may also cause paralysis and problems with swallowing, talking, climbing stairs, lifting things, and getting up from a sitting position. The muscle weakness gets worse during activity, and improves after periods of rest.NCI Dictionary of Cancer TermsU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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A disorder of neuromuscular transmission characterized by fatigable weakness of cranial and skeletal muscles with elevated titers of ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTORS or muscle-specific receptor tyrosine kinase (MuSK) autoantibodies. Clinical manifestations may include ocular muscle weakness (fluctuating, asymmetric, external ophthalmoplegia; diplopia; ptosis; and weakness of eye closure) and extraocular fatigable weakness of facial, bulbar, respiratory, and proximal limb muscles. The disease may remain limited to the ocular muscles (ocular myasthenia). THYMOMA is commonly associated with this condition.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Disease characterized by progressive weakness and exhaustibility of voluntary muscles without atrophy or sensory disturbance and caused by an autoimmune attack on acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction.CRISP ThesaurusNational Institutes of Health, 2006
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Myasthenia gravis is a disease that causes weakness in your voluntary muscles. These are the muscles that you control. For example, you may have weakness in the muscles for eye movement, facial expressions, and swallowing. You can also have weakness in other muscles. This weakness gets worse with activity, and better with rest. Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease. Your body's immune system makes antibodies that block or change some of the nerve signals to your muscles. This makes your muscles weaker. Other conditions can cause muscle weakness, so myasthenia gravis can be hard to diagnose. Tests used to make a diagnosis include blood, nerve, muscle, and imaging tests. With treatment, the muscle weakness often gets much better. Medicines can help improve nerve-to-muscle messages and make muscles stronger. Other drugs keep your body from making so many abnormal antibodies. These medicines can have major side effects, so they should be used carefully. There are also treatments which filter abnormal antibodies from the blood or add healthy antibodies from donated blood. Sometimes, surgery to take out the thymus gland helps. Some people with myasthenia gravis go into remission. This means that they do not have symptoms. The remission is usually temporary, but sometimes it can be permanent. NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and StrokeMedlinePlusU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Myasthenia gravis is a disorder that causes weakness of the skeletal muscles, which are muscles that the body uses for movement. The weakness most often starts in the muscles around the eyes, causing drooping of the eyelids (ptosis) and difficulty coordinating eye movements, which results in blurred or double vision. In a form of the disorder called ocular myasthenia, the weakness remains confined to the eye muscles. In most people with myasthenia gravis, however, additional muscles in the face and neck are affected. Affected individuals may have unusual facial expressions, difficulty holding up the head, speech impairment (dysarthria), and chewing and swallowing problems (dysphagia) that may lead to choking, gagging, or drooling. Other muscles in the body are also affected in some people with myasthenia gravis. The muscles of the arms and legs may be involved, causing affected individuals to have changes in their gait or trouble with lifting objects, rising from a seated position, or climbing stairs. The muscle weakness tends to fluctuate over time; it typically worsens with activity and improves with rest. Weakness of the muscles in the chest wall and the muscle that separates the abdomen from the chest cavity (the diaphragm) can cause breathing problems in some people with myasthenia gravis. About 10 percent of people with this disorder experience a potentially life-threatening complication in which these respiratory muscles weaken to the point that breathing is...MedlinePlus GeneticsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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A disorder characterized by weakness and rapid fatigue of any of the skeletal muscles.Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse EventsU.S. National Institutes of Health, 2021
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Myasthenia gravis involves episodic muscle weakness and easy fatigability caused by autoantibody- and cell-mediated destruction of acetylcholine receptors. It is more common among young women and older men but may occur in men or women at any age. Symptoms worsen with muscle activity and lessen with rest. Diagnosis is by measurement of...Merck & Co., Inc., 2020
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Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a relatively rare autoimmune disorder in which antibodies form against acetylcholine nicotinic postsynaptic receptors at the neuromuscular junction of skeletal muscles (see the image below). MG is sometimes identified as having an ocular and generalized form, although one is not exclusive of the other and the...WebMD, 2019
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Myasthenia gravis (my-us-THEE-nee-uh GRAY-vis) is characterized by weakness and rapid fatigue of any of the muscles under your voluntary control. It's caused by a breakdown in the normal communication between nerves and muscles.Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
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Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by weakness of the skeletal muscles. Common symptoms include weakness of the muscles that control the eye and eyelid, facial expressions, chewing, talking, and swallowing. Weakness tends to increase during periods of activity and improve after periods of...National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
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Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune disorder of the postsynaptic membrane at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) in skeletal muscle. Circulating antibodies against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) and associated proteins impair neuromuscular transmission. Patients present with muscle weakness, which typically worsens...Athenahealth, Inc., 2019
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Myasthenia gravis, chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle weakness and chronic fatigue that is caused by a defect in the transmission of nerve impulses from nerve endings to muscles. Myasthenia gravis can occur at any age, but it most commonly affects women under the age of 40 and men...Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020
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