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Management of patients with generalised myasthenia gravis and COVID-19: four case reports
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  • Published on: 30 November 2020
    Response to: COVID-19 associated Myasthenic crisis
    • Annemarie Hübers, Senior attending neurologist Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève
    • Other Contributors:
      • Agustina M Lascano, Neurologist

    We would like to thank the author for pointing out the fact that a proper disease control in myasthenia gravis (MG) probably predicts a favourable outcome during SARS-CoV-2 infection.
    MG exacerbation was only observed in one patient (case 1) treated successfully with immunoglobulins (IVIG) as described. No MG crisis was reported during this period in non-infected patients.
    None of the four patients described in our case report received COVID-19 related treatment, namely antiviral and/or hydroxychloroquine. Case 4 received antibiotherapy for 5 days (azythromicine and tazobactam).
    Regarding case 2, this patient presents with recurring symptoms of fever and shortness of breath since March 2020. In this regard a chest CT and repeated D-dimers were performed in October, showing negative results.

    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.
  • Published on: 21 November 2020
    COVID-19 associated Myasthenic crisis
    • Arunmozhimaran Elavarasi, Neurologist All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
    • Other Contributors:
      • Vinay Goyal, Director, Neurology

    We appreciate the authors for describing their patients’ data in myasthenia with COVID-19 which would help clinicians caring for such patients.1 We have the following comments and queries. We would like to point out that, three out of the four patients who had SARS-CoV-2 infection were not having any infiltrates on chest x-ray, suggesting that these patients had mild COVID-19 infection.2 It is also noteworthy that all these patients who had a normal chest radiograph were either on very low dose azathioprine or no immunosuppressant apart from low dose steroids. As the authors rightly point out, the myasthenia disease activity prior to infection with SARS-CoV-2 is an important predictor of the severity of the myasthenic crisis. It is possible that patients with better control of symptoms or those on appropriate immunosuppression don’t develop a crisis with mild COVID-19. Secondly, it would be interesting to know what specific therapy for COVID-19 was offered to these patients. It is possible that steroids given as a part of therapy for COVID-19 could also act to stabilize disease activity in myasthenia. Similarly, IVIg given to manage Myasthenic crisis could have prevented progression in the severity of COVID-19. Likewise, myasthenic patients who receive drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and macrolides can have precipitation of myasthenic crisis.3,4 In case 2, we would also be interested to know if other causes of chest pain and breathlessness like pulmonary thromboembolism w...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.