Prognosis of Ocular Myasthenia Gravis in an Argentinian Population

Abstract

Background: We investigated the prognosis of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) initially presenting with only ocular symptoms in an Argentinian population. Summary: We performed a retrospective analysis of 61 patients with MG with pure ocular involvement at onset. Generalized MG (gMG) developed in 73.7% of patients, while the rest only exhibited ocular symptoms throughout the course of the disease (ocular MG [oMG]). The AChR antibody (AChR-ab) was found in 81.4% of the gMG and 50% of the oMG cases. AChR-ab titers were also significantly higher in the gMG than in the oMG group. Patients with oMG more frequently required treatment only with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and showed more remissions. Key Messages: Our study showed high generalization in patients with MG debuting with ocular symptoms. Patients with AChR seropositivity and higher AChR-ab titers had an increased risk for gMG, while patients with oMG showed lower corticosteroid requirements and a higher remission rate.