A 44-year-old woman comes to the physician because of diplopia and progressive weakness for the past month. She has noticed increasing difficulty performing household chores and walking her dog. Sometimes, she feels too fatigued to cook dinner. receiving low-dose pyridostigmine for treatment of her condition and claims good compliance without significant side effects. Physical examination reveals fatigable asymmetric ptosis and binocular horizontal diplopia. Infusion of edrophonium elicits a significant improvement in her symptoms. The pathogenesis of this patient's disease is most similar to which of the following conditions?

Question

A 44-year-old woman comes to the physician because of diplopia and progressive weakness for the past month. She has noticed increasing difficulty performing household chores and walking her dog. Sometimes, she feels too fatigued to cook dinner. receiving low-dose pyridostigmine for treatment of her condition and claims good compliance without significant side effects.  Physical examination reveals fatigable asymmetric ptosis and binocular horizontal diplopia.  Infusion of edrophonium elicits a significant improvement in her symptoms. The pathogenesis of this patient's disease is most similar to which of the following conditions?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Myasthenia gravis results from an autoimmune type II (antibody-mediated) hypersensitivity reaction against skeletal myocyte surface acetylcholine receptors.  Goodpasture syndrome similarly involves autoantibodies against basement membrane collagen in the renal glomeruli and lung alveoli.

A 44-Year-Old Woman Comes to the Physician Because of Diplopia