Successful treatment of a 2-year-old girl with intractable myasthenia gravis using tacrolimus

Brain Dev. 2006 Sep;28(8):534-6. doi: 10.1016/j.braindev.2006.02.001. Epub 2006 Mar 29.

Abstract

We used tacrolimus to successfully treat a patient with childhood-onset oropharyngeal myasthenia gravis (MG). A girl (2 years, 5 months old) with oropharyngeal MG responded partially to treatment including pyridostigmine bromide, intravenous immunoglobulin, and prednisolone (2 mg/kg/day) for 7 weeks, but this resulted in worsening of her eye symptoms. By contrast, tacrolimus at 2 mg/day resulted in complete remission of the MG, which made it possible to reduce the dose of prednisolone. This is a rare report of the use of tacrolimus as an effective treatment for patients with intractable childhood-onset MG.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Myasthenia Gravis / drug therapy*
  • Tacrolimus / therapeutic use*
  • Time Factors
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Tacrolimus