Types of Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia gravis is a neuromuscular disease that characterizes as muscular weakness and fatigue that involves a series of muscles all over the body. Some patients might experience multiple types of myasthenia gravis. [5] Following are the five types of myasthenia gravis on the basis of the cause of the neuromuscular dysfunction, the muscle groups involved, and the time of disease onset:
- Congenital myasthenia gravis
Congenital myasthenia, as the name indicates results from a genetic defect that a child inherits from both parents. Instead of an autoimmune disorder, congenital disorder results from the genetic defect which causes changes in the neuromuscular transmission and leads to weaker muscles. The mutation in genes links with the disruption in communication between the muscles and the nerves. Moreover, the genes that participate in the coding of acetylcholine receptor might suffer mutations and lead to myasthenia gravis. Congenital myasthenia gravis usually occurs in an autosomal recessive manner in which one defective gene comes from each parent.
- Ocular myasthenia gravis
The muscles responsible for the movements of eyes and eyelids suffer from the ocular myasthenia gravis condition. Ocular myasthenia gravis symptoms include double vision and drooping eyelids. The only muscular weakness the patients of ocular myasthenia gravis experience is of the eye muscles and the weakness does not spread to other groups of muscles.
- Generalized myasthenia gravis
The patients having generalized myasthenia gravis experiences muscular weakness not only in their eye muscles but it spreads to all the muscle groups in the body. Generalized muscular weakness might cause weakness in the limbs as well as the facial muscles. The studies indicate that almost 10 percent of the generalized myasthenia gravis patients experience muscular weakness in their throat, jaw, and respiratory muscles. The severe conditions make it difficult to breathe and causes myasthenia crisis.
- Transient neonatal myasthenia gravis
The mothers having myasthenia gravis might transfer the disease to their infants after 48 hours of their birth and this condition is known as transient neonatal myasthenia gravis. The symptoms of transient neonatal myasthenia gravis include impaired swallowing or suckling, respiratory insufficiency, and a weak cry. Whereas the condition is serious but the symptoms might start disappearing within days or weeks.
- Juvenile myasthenia gravis
Juvenile myasthenia gravis is a type of myasthenia gravis which starts to appear before the onset of puberty. The children having the condition of juvenile myasthenia experience most of the symptoms in relation to their eyes because the juvenile myasthenia gravis confines itself to only the eye muscles. Myasthenia gravis usually stays benign in most of the cases of the children but in severe cases, more muscle groups start involving. A child living with juvenile myasthenia gravis might experiences symptoms ranging from confusion to tiring easily to difficulty in swallowing. Children having myasthenia gravis are less likely to have the detection of acetylcholine receptor antibodies in their blood tests as compared to the adults having ocular or generalized myasthenia. It is a great possibility for young patients to get remission from myasthenia gravis more easily than adult patients but the chances of relapses are also present. Surgical removal of thymus is a good option treatment for young patients because they suffer from abnormal growth and thymic dysplasia.