Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

A case of myasthenia gravis with transient taste disorders followed by aplastic anemia after thymectomy

Osamu Osada, M.D.1), Akira Iwasaki, M.D.1), Hirotaka Nakahashi, M.D.2), Yoshitora Kim, M.D.2) and Kou Kaneko, M.D.3)

1)Department of Neurology, Fukaya Red Cross Hospital
2)Department of Internal Medicine, Fukaya Red Cross Hospital
3)Department of Pathology, Fukaya Red Cross Hospital

A 45-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of taste disorders in March 2014. He exhibited cervical muscle weakness and left eye ptosis, which responded to Tensilon test, and was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG). He developed aspiration pneumonia and myasthenic crisis, which was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin and steroid pulse therapy. All symptoms disappeared. Oral administration of prednisolone and tacrolimus was started. Chest CT revealed thymoma and extended thymectomy was performed in May 2014. In December 2014, seven months after the thymectomy, hematological examination showed pancytopenia including severe neutropenia. We diagnosed his illness as aplastic anemia (AA). Cyclosporine therapy with transfusion was administerd and led to reticulocyte count recovery. Since May 2015, hemoglobin recovery reached a blood transfusion free period. To our knowledge, this is the first case report with the patient supposed of relationship among taste disorders, AA and thymoma-associated MG.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (417K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 56: 200|203, 2016)
key words: thymoma, myasthenia gravis, aplastic anemia, taste disorders

(Received: 30-Jul-15)