TY - JOUR
T1 - The Association of Pauciarticular Juvenile Arthritis and Myasthenia Gravis
AU - Glass, John B.
AU - Sher, Phyllis K.
AU - Lennon, Vanda A.
AU - Regelmann, Warren E.
PY - 1991/10
Y1 - 1991/10
N2 - We encountered two children with fluorescent antinuclear antibody—positive pauciarticular juvenile arthritis who later developed myasthenia gravis. Acetylcholine receptor binding, blocking, and modulating antibodies, retrospectively tested on frozen serum, yielded negative results before the onset of myasthenic symptoms but all yielded strongly positive results coincident with the onset of weakness. In both children, myasthenia gravis responded to thymectomy, and one child had a beneficial response to plasmapheresis. Although, to our knowledge, only two patients with juvenile arthritis and myasthenia gravis have been described in the past, the presence of two additional children with both diseases in a single clinic population suggests that the association may be more prevalent than previously suspected.
AB - We encountered two children with fluorescent antinuclear antibody—positive pauciarticular juvenile arthritis who later developed myasthenia gravis. Acetylcholine receptor binding, blocking, and modulating antibodies, retrospectively tested on frozen serum, yielded negative results before the onset of myasthenic symptoms but all yielded strongly positive results coincident with the onset of weakness. In both children, myasthenia gravis responded to thymectomy, and one child had a beneficial response to plasmapheresis. Although, to our knowledge, only two patients with juvenile arthritis and myasthenia gravis have been described in the past, the presence of two additional children with both diseases in a single clinic population suggests that the association may be more prevalent than previously suspected.
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U2 - 10.1001/archpedi.1991.02160100108033
DO - 10.1001/archpedi.1991.02160100108033
M3 - Article
C2 - 1928013
AN - SCOPUS:0026076743
SN - 0002-922X
VL - 145
SP - 1176
EP - 1180
JO - American Journal of Diseases of Children
JF - American Journal of Diseases of Children
IS - 10
ER -