Presentation of myasthenia gravis crisis in a critically ill patient of corpulmonale

Abstract

The incidence of myasthenia gravis (MG) is around 15–20/100,000. It can present as respiratory failure known as a myasthenic crisis in old age individuals. This can be precipitated by some underlying processes such as sepsis. As most patients with cor pulmonale are associated with type 2 respiratory failure and some degree of muscle fatigue, in this scenario, the other causes of neuromuscular weakness such as MG can be missed. We report the case of an 80-year-old male known case of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cor pulmonale, and sepsis who presented with generalized weakness and respiratory failure as the first symptom of MG. As there is limited literature available on MG in cor pulmonale, we aimed to report this study.