ABSTRACT
A 68-year-old woman developed a clinical picture of a painful subacute polyradiculoneuropathy. Her condition improved dramatically after treatment with plasmapheresis. A few months later she was found to have serologic evidence for the human immunodeficiency virus. This infection was traced to a contaminated transfusion received three years earlier. Postmortem studies disclosed pathology affecting mainly dorsal roots.
Subject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/complications , Ganglia, Spinal/pathology , Polyradiculoneuropathy/etiology , Spinal Cord Diseases/etiology , Transfusion Reaction , Aged , Female , HumansABSTRACT
At ages 31 and 42 years, two brothers presented with clinical, pharmacologic, electrophysiologic, and immunologic characteristics of autoimmune myasthenia gravis. At thymectomy, both had histologic findings of epithelial thymoma. HLA analysis revealed A2, A3, B7, and B39 antigens in one patient and A3, A24, B7, and B40 antigens in the other. Familial myasthenia gravis with thymoma has not been described previously. Familial thymoma has been rarely reported, but never with myasthenia gravis.
