Dovilė Geštautaitė¹,  Antanas Vaitkus ²

¹Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Academy of Medicine. Faculty of Medicine.

² Lithunian university of health sciences hospital, Neurology clinic 

ABSTRACT

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease of the nervous system during which antibodies are produced against the receptors in the neuromuscular junction (NRJ) causing disruption in signal transduction and pathological muscle weakness. The disease usually manifests itself by the weakness of ocular muscles, namely diplopia, ptosis, but later it can become more generalised. It is of the utmost importance that general medical practitioners suspect this pathology because the patients’ quality of life increases significantly when myasthenia is diagnosed and the disease modifying treatment is prescribed. This article presents a detailed literature review of myasthenia gravis as well as discusses the importance of the diagnosis of this disease in general medical practice.

Key words: myasthenia gravis, myasthenia gravis in general medical practice, diagnostics of myasthenia gravis