Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 105, Issue 11 , Pages 946-949, 2006

Coexistence of Pernicious Anemia and Myasthenia Gravis—A Rare Combination of Autoimmune Diseases in Taiwan

  • Kuo-Hsuan Chang

      Affiliations

    • Section of Neuromuscular Diseases, Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Department of Internal Medicine, Nan Men General Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Rong-Kuo Lyu

      Affiliations

    • Section of Neuromuscular Diseases, Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Long-Sun Ro

      Affiliations

    • Section of Neuromuscular Diseases, Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yih-Ru Wu

      Affiliations

    • Section of Neuromuscular Diseases, Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chiung-Mei Chen

      Affiliations

    • Section of Neuromuscular Diseases, Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Chiung-Mei Chen, Section of Neuromuscular Diseases, Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and University College of Medicine, 199 Tung Hwa North Road, Taipei 105, Taiwan

Received 17 August 2005; received in revised form 27 September 2005; accepted 6 December 2005.

About 5-10% of patients with myasthenia gravis concomitantly have other autoimmune diseases. However, the coexistence of myasthenia gravis and pernicious anemia is rare. Here, we report a 73-year-old Taiwanese woman who developed myasthenia gravis 5 months after the onset of pernicious anemia. Her myasthenic and pernicious anemia symptoms markedly improved after pyridostigmine, prednisolone and hydroxo-cobalamine treatment. It is important to recognize concurrence of myasthenia gravis and pernicious anemia in the same patient because the therapeutic results for both diseases are rewarding.

Key Words:  myasthenia gravis , pernicious anemia

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PII: S0929-6646(09)60181-9

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(09)60181-9

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 105, Issue 11 , Pages 946-949, 2006

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