Surgery

Benefits of thymectomy in treating myasthenia gravis

The first-ever randomized study of the removal of the thymus gland in treating myasthenia gravis was conducted in 2016. Led by Gil I. Wolfe, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the Irvin and Rosemary Smith Professor of Neurology ...

Health

This is how tobacco damages our cells

My father smoked a pipe for some time, and I vividly remember that sticky black substance—tar—which stuck to the device's filter. Now imagine this stuff going into your lungs, and coating their walls. The picture is unpleasant, ...

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Myasthenia gravis (from Greek μύς "muscle", ἀσθένεια "weakness", and Latin: gravis "serious"; abbreviated MG) is an autoimmune neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. It is an autoimmune disorder, in which weakness is caused by circulating antibodies that block acetylcholine receptors at the postsynaptic neuromuscular junction, inhibiting the excitatory effects of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine on nicotinic receptors throughout neuromuscular junctions. Myasthenia is treated medically with cholinesterase inhibitors or immunosuppressants, and, in selected cases, thymectomy. The disease incidence is 3–30 cases per million per year and rising as a result of increased awareness. MG must be distinguished from congenital myasthenic syndromes that can present similar symptoms but offer no response to immunosuppressive treatments.

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