Case Series: Clinical Impact of Plasmapheresis and Thymectomy on Early-Onset Myasthenia Gravis

Abstract

Thymectomy is a common procedure performed in cases of myasthenia gravis (MG) with a thymoma or general MG that does not improve with medical therapy. This procedure is usually preceded by plasmapheresis to prevent the occurrence of myasthenic crisis and improve clinical outcome after thymectomy. Early-onset MG has a different phenotype than late-onset MG. So far, the effectiveness of plasmapheresis followed by thymectomy in early-onset MG remains unclear because of the conflicting results of previous studies. We present 5 early-onset MG patients who underwent plasmapheresis followed by thymectomy in the 2007–2020 period. Follow-up was done 1 year after thymectomy. We describe clinical features and postoperative data and evaluate the clinical outcome after thymectomy. Muscle strength was assessed by the Medical Research Council scale. Evaluation of clinical stage before and after thymectomy were carried out with the modified Osserman classification. All patients showed improvement (100%) in the clinical grade of the modified Osserman classification: 3 patients were in the complete remission category and 2 patients were in the improved category. All patients with general weakness experienced improvement in muscle strength at the 1-year evaluation.