Analysis of clinical features of myasthenia gravis complicated with hyperthyroidism

Objectives: To investigate the clinical features of patients with myasthenia gravis complicated with and without hyperthyroidism. Methods: A total of 2083 patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) admitted in Center of Treatment of Myasthenia Gravis Hebei Province between January 2013 and July 2020 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into two groups: Group-A and Group-B, with 108 MG patients complicated with hyperthyroidism in Group-A and 1975 MG patients without thyroid disease in Group-B. The age of onset, gender, Osserman classification, acetylcholine receptor antibody and thymus status of the two groups were analyzed in the two groups. Independent-sample t test was used for intra-group comparison, and χ2 test was utilized for comparison of enumeration data. P<0.05 indicates a statistically significant difference. Results: The age of onset in Group-A was significantly lower than that in Group-B (p=0.000), the number of female patients was significantly higher than that in Group-B (p=0.037), and the level of Achrabs titer was significantly lower than that in Group-B (p=0.000). The incidence of thymoma in Group-A was significantly lower than that in Group-B (p=0.012), while the incidence of thymic hyperplasia was significantly higher than that in Group-B (p=0.000). Conclusion: Patients with MG complicated with hyperthyroidism are mainly female, with a lower age of onset, a lower level of acetylcholine receptor antibody, a lower incidence of thymoma, and a higher incidence of thymic hyperplasia. The clinical features of such patients are remarkably different from those of MG without thyroid disease. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.3.4656 How to cite this:Wang Y, Qi G, Yang Y. Analysis of clinical features of myasthenia gravis complicated with hyperthyroidism. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(3):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.3.4656 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

CT texture analysis in evaluation of thymic tumors and thymic hyperplasia: correlation with the international thymic malignancy interest group (ITMIG) stage and WHO grade

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of CT texture analysis (CTTA) in (1) differentiating Thymoma (THY) from thymic hyperplasia (TH) (2) low from high WHO grade, and (3) low from high Masaoka Koga (MK)/International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG) stages. Methods: After institute ethical clearance, this cross-sectional study analyzed 26 patients (THY-18, TH-8) who underwent dual energy CT (DECT) and surgery between Jan 2016 and December 2018. CTTA was performed using TexRad (Feedback Medical Ltd., Cambridge, UK- www.fbkmed.com ) by a single observer. Free hand regions of interest (ROI) were placed over axial sections where there was maximum enhancement and homogeneity. Filtration histogram was used to generate six first order texture parameters [mean, standard deviation (SD), mean of positive pixels (MPP), entropy, skewness, and kurtosis] at six spatial scaling factors “SSF 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6”. Mann Whitney test was applied among various categories and p value < 0.05 was considered significant. Three-step feature selection was performed to determine the best parameters among each category. Results: The best performing parameters were (1) THY vs TH- Mean at “SSF 0” (AUC: 0.8889) and MPP at “SSF 0” (AUC: 0.8889), (2) Low vs high WHO grade- no parameter showed statistical significance with good AUC, and (3) Low vs high MK/ ITMIG stage- SD at “SSF 6” (AUC: 0.8052 and 0.8333 respectively]). Conclusion: CTTA revealed several parameters with excellent diagnostic performance in differentiating thymoma from thymic hyperplasia and MK/ ITMIG high vs low stages. CTTA could potentially serve as a non-invasive tool for this stratification. Advances in knowledge: This study has employed texture analysis, a novel radionomics method on DECT scans to determine the best performing parameter and their corresponding cut off values to differentiate among the above mentioned categories. These new parameters may help add another layer of confidence to non-invasively stratify and prognosticate patients accurately which was only previously possible with a biopsy.

A Developing Anterior Mediastinal Mass In A Breast Cancer Patient : Thymic Hyperplasia

Introduction: True thymic hyperplasia following chemotherapy have been described mostly in children.There are a few cases of thymus hyperplasia have been reported in breast cancer patients . Diagnosis of this unusual entity is very crucial to pretend unnecessary surgery or interventional diagnostic procedures. Case Presentation: We report a case of thymus hyperplasia in a patient who was operated and treated with adjuvant chemotherapy for stage 2 breast cancer two years ago. In the follow-up CT scans an anterior mediastinal mass was noted. Radiologic evaluation and follow up revealed thymus enlargement. Discussion: Thymic hyperplasia following chemotherapy have been described in both children and adults, but occurs mostly in children and adolescents treated for lymphoma and several other types of tumors. Few cases are reported in literature describing thymus hyperplasia following chemotherapy in a breast cancer patient. Conclusion: Radiologists must be aware of this unusual finding in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy to guide the clinicians appropriately in order to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention, additional invasive diagnostic procedures, or chemotherapy.