Clinical features and outcomes of patients with myasthenia gravis admitted to an intensive care unit : A 20-year retrospective study

Copyright © 2022, Morar et al. Copyright of published material remains in the Authors’ name. This allows authors to use their work for their own non-commercial purposes without seeking permission from the Publisher, subject to properly acknowledging the Journal as the original place of publication..

Background: There are limited data on the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH).

Objectives: The aim was to study the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with MG admitted to the CMJAH over two decades.

Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken of patients with MG admitted to the multidisciplinary ICU of CMJAH over a 20-year period, from 1998 to 2017. Demographic data, clinical features, management and outcomes of patients were assessed and reviewed from the case records.

Results: Thirty-four patients with MG were admitted to the ICU during this period: 24 female and 10 male. The mean age ± SD was 37.4 ± 13.0 years, with a range of 16 - 66 years. Four patients were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive. The mean length of stay (LOS) in ICU was 10.6 ± 20.1 days, ranging from 1 to 115 days. Two patients were diagnosed with MG in the ICU after failure to wean from the ventilator. Overall, 22 patients were intubated and ventilated on admission. Morbidities included self-extubation, aspiration pneumonia and iatrogenic pneumothorax. History of thymectomy was present in 12 patients. The treatments received for MG included pyridostigmine (73.5%), corticosteroids (55.9%), azathioprine (35.3%), plasmapheresis (26.5%) and intravenous immunoglobulin (8.8%). The overall mortality in the ICU was 5.9%.

Conclusion: MG is a serious disorder with considerable morbidity and mortality. It is, however, a potentially manageable disease, provided that appropriate ICU resources are available.

Contributions of the study: This study provides further insight into the characteristics and outcomes of myasthenia gravis patients in ICU, within a South African context.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:39

Enthalten in:

The Southern African journal of critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Society - 39(2023), 2 vom: 19.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Morar, R [VerfasserIn]
GEMP 2 Group 6 of 2018 (M Amod, F Chappel, L Ebbeling, L Fikizolo, A Glover, K Gutu, C Lawson, R Maswinyaneng, M Mohunlal, K Morar, D Rooken-Smith, K Seale, D Shai) [VerfasserIn]
Seedat, F [VerfasserIn]
Richards, G A [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Critical care
ICU
Johannesburg, South Africa
Journal Article
Myasthenia gravis

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 08.08.2023

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.7196/SAJCC.2023.v39i2.561

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM36047442X