Antibodies to skeletal muscle in myasthenia gravis. Part 1. Diagnostic value for the detection of thymoma

J B Kuks, P C Limburg, G Horst, J Dijksterhuis, H J Oosterhuis

    Research output: Contribution to journal/periodicalArticleScientificpeer-review

    10 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The role of anti-muscle antibodies (AMA) in the diagnosis of thymoma in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) is evaluated. We compared ELISA and Western blot assay for antibodies to citric acid muscle extract (a-CAE) with an immunofluorescence assay (IF). Sera from 234 selected MG patients and 123 controls were tested. There was no essential difference between ELISA and IF. Western blot was superior in young onset patients but less useful in patients with an onset beyond the age of 40 years. Unusually high post-test probabilities were found by our patient selection criteria which seem most realistic for clinical practice. Western blot revealed no differences in specificity of AMA in thymoma and non-thymoma patients irrespective of age at onset of disease.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)183-8
    Number of pages6
    JournalJournal of the Neurological Sciences
    Volume119
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 1993

    Keywords

    • Adult
    • Aged
    • Antibodies, Neoplasm
    • Blotting, Western
    • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
    • Female
    • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
    • Humans
    • Male
    • Middle Aged
    • Muscles
    • Myasthenia Gravis
    • Thymoma
    • Thymus Neoplasms

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