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CASE REPORT article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1498847
This article is part of the Research Topic Neuroinfection-Related Immunity and Inflammation View all 7 articles

Distal muscle weakness as the main onset symptom in Thymomaassociated myasthenia gravis: a case report and literature review

Provisionally accepted
Xuan Wu Xuan Wu 1*Xiao-Tian Xu Xiao-Tian Xu 1Lin Zhou Lin Zhou 1Kai Qiao Kai Qiao 2Chongbo Zhao Chongbo Zhao 2Sushan Luo Sushan Luo 2*
  • 1 The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
  • 2 Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disorder within the spectrum of neuromuscular rare diseases, characterised by fluctuating muscle weakness. This report presents a case of a middle-aged woman with a chronic onset of asymmetric upper limb weakness accompanied by difficulty in finger extension, without ptosis or fluctuation for 4 years. The patient was finally diagnosed with MG by a significant decrement of Compound Muscle Action Potential in repetitive nerve stimuli, positive anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies as well as the presence of a mass located in the anterior mediastinum. With subsequent immunotherapies for one month, the patient exhibited marked enhancement in muscle strength, followed by an uneventful thymectomy. After two months, the patient's symptoms were fully alleviated, as evidenced by the reduction in Quantitative MG Score from 9 to 4 points, Myasthenia Gravis Composite Score from 6 to 1 points, Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living Score from 4 to 1 points, and Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life-15 score from 14 to 8 points respectively. This case highlights the importance of 2 differentiating autoimmune disorders from hereditary neuromuscular diseases and initiating timely treatment.

    Keywords: Myasthenia Gravis, Autoimmune disorder, Neuromuscular Disease, Distal muscle weakness, Thymoma

    Received: 23 Sep 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Xu, Zhou, Qiao, Zhao and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xuan Wu, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
    Sushan Luo, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

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