Most patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) who were initially seen at the Duke MG Clinic after 2000 and followed for at least 2 years achieved the treatment goal within 10 years after their first visit. This is according to the second analysis of outcomes of the Duke MG Clinic Registry published in Muscle & Nerve.
“These results demonstrate outcomes that can be achieved by treating patients with MG according to the Consensus Guidance statements,” the authors of the study wrote. “Physicians and patients can use these results to understand what to expect with the treatment approaches in those statements.”
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To analyze outcomes in patients seen and treated at the Duke MG Clinic, a team of researchers led by Janice M. Massey, MD, a neurologist at Duke Medicine specializing in neuromuscular junction disorders, conducted a retrospective cohort study among patients who were initially seen after 2000 and followed for a minimum of 2 years.
There were 367 patients who met these criteria in the registry. Of these, 72% achieved the treatment goal, which was defined as achieving the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) postintervention status of minimal manifestations or better. The median time to achieve the treatment goal was 2 years, with 80% of patients achieving it within 10 years.
A larger proportion of patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies and who had undergone a thymectomy achieved the treatment goal. They also achieved it sooner than patients without anti-AChR antibodies or who had not undergone thymectomy.
The duration of disease at the time of the first visit to the Duke MG Clinic was shorter in patients who achieved the treatment goal than in those who did not.
There were no other significant differences within the tested subgroups.
The authors of the study concluded that these findings “can be used to determine the added value and potential role of new treatment modalities developed since 2018.”
The Duke MG Clinic Registry contains data derived by physicians about patients with MG who were seen at the Duke MG Clinic since 1980.
Reference
Sanders DB, Lutz MW, Raja SM, et al. The Duke Myasthenia Gravis clinic registry: II. analysis of outcomes. Muscle Nerve. Published online February 3, 2023. doi:10.1002/mus.27794
