@article{2ee4da07f309464e9a83f716859f9ec1,
title = "Anti-musk antibody-positive myasthenia gravis successfully treated with outpatient periodic weekly blood purification therapy",
abstract = "A 37-year-old man with anti-muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK) antibody-positive myasthenia gravis (MG) presented with subacute progressive dysphagia and muscle weakness of the neck and bilateral upper extremities. Conventional immune-suppressive treatments and high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin were ineffective. He then displayed repeated exacerbations and remissions over the course of two years, despite two to four sessions of plasma exchange (PE) every two months. The patient was successfully treated with outpatient periodic weekly blood purification therapy with alternative PE and double-filtration plasmapheresis using an internal shunt. This case report suggests the benefits of blood purification therapy with an internal shunt against anti-MuSK antibody-positive MG.",
keywords = "Anti-MuSK antibodies, Myasthenia gravis, Periodic weekly blood purification therapy",
author = "Kentaro Deguchi and Kosuke Matsuzono and Yumiko Nakano and Syoichiro Kono and Kota Sato and Shoko Deguchi and Katsuyuki Tanabe and Nozomi Hishikawa and Yasuyuki Ohta and Toru Yamashita and Kiyoe Ohta and Masakatsu Motomura and Koji Abe",
note = "Funding Information: This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 2529320216, (C) 24591263 and Challenging Research 24659651, and by Grants-in-Aid from the Research Committees (Mizusawa H, Nakashima K, Nishizawa M, Sasaki H, and Aoki M) from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.",
year = "2018",
doi = "10.2169/internalmedicine.9466-17",
language = "English",
volume = "57",
pages = "1455--1458",
journal = "Internal Medicine",
issn = "0918-2918",
publisher = "Japanese Society of Internal Medicine",
number = "10",
}