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Myasthenia gravis chest x ray


Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Overview

Chest X-ray scan may be helpful in the diagnosis mediastinal masses in myasthenia gravis such as thymic hyperplasia and thymoma.

Chest X-ray

Chest X-ray

  • Chest X-ray scan may be helpful in the diagnosis mediastinal masses in myasthenia gravis.
  • Studies suggested a relationship between myasthenia gravis and thymus.
  • This disease mostly occurs in patients with thymic hyperplasia and thymoma and the removal of thymus can reduce the clinical symptom of the patients. Based on this fact, detection of these thymic masses is very important in management of myasthenia gravis.[1][2][3][4][5]
  • Chest X-ray can identify mediastinal masses but it’s not sensitive and specific and it cannot differentiate thymomas from nonthymomatous masses.[6]
References

References

  1. Wechsler AS, Olanow CW (August 1980). “Myasthenia gravis”. Surg. Clin. North Am. 60 (4): 931–45. PMID 7423369.
  2. Elias SB, Appel SH (July 1979). “Current concepts of pathogenesis and treatment of myasthenia gravis”. Med. Clin. North Am. 63 (4): 745–57. PMID 89275.
  3. Mintz S, Petersen SR, MacFarland D, Petajan J, Richards RC (December 1980). “The current role of thymectomy for myasthenia gravis”. Am. J. Surg. 140 (6): 734–7. PMID 7457692.
  4. Cohn HE, Solit RW, Schatz NJ, Schlezinger N (December 1974). “Surgical treatment in myasthenia gravis. A 27 year experience”. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 68 (6): 876–85. PMID 4421048.
  5. Fraser K, Simpson JA, Crawford J (May 1978). “The place of surgery in the treatment of myasthenia gravis”. Br J Surg. 65 (5): 301–4. PMID 647191.
  6. Brown LR, Muhm JR, Sheedy PF, Unni KK, Bernatz PE, Hermann RC (January 1983). “The value of computed tomography in myasthenia gravis”. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 140 (1): 31–5. doi:10.2214/ajr.140.1.31. PMID 6600322.

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