Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders (May 2024)

Rescue treatment with add-on efgartigimod in a patient with impending myasthenic crisis: a case report

  • Zhouao Zhang,
  • Mingjin Yang,
  • Tiancheng Luo,
  • Xue Du,
  • Zhouyi Wang,
  • Xiaoyu Huang,
  • Yong Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/17562864241254895
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17

Abstract

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Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by fluctuating muscle weakness. Severe patients may develop life-threatening respiratory failure and experience crisis. Plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is the first-line treatment option for myasthenia crisis, but some patients still poorly respond to them. Here, we first reported a generalized MG patient from China who was in a state of impending myasthenic crisis and did not respond effectively to IVIg but was successfully rescued by add-on efgartigimod. Especially, we also detected meaningful changes in T-cell and B-cell subsets after efgartigimod, promoting a potential role of efgartigimod in re-establishing immune homeostasis.