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Vestibular assessment of a patient with myasthenia gravis: case report 


Journal of Otolaryngology-ENT Research
Kenneth Chua,1,2 Sakumura J1

Abstract

Vestibular Assessment in patients with Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is challenging, as diagnostic evaluation requires good recording of eye movements. Reports on Vestibular Function Testing (VFT) in MG patients have been scant and it is arguable that VFT will have little clinical value in the MG population. A 75-year-old man, with late onset acquired autoimmune MG presented with dizziness for evaluation. He completed VFT with no significant abnormalities in all tests and was elated to have vestibular ruled out as a contributing factor to his dizziness and imbalance. However, his functional impairments were still addressed and managed regardless of the test results. MG is a heterogenous condition that may be well-controlled with treatment. Patients with dizziness can still be diagnostically evaluated to rule in or out a vestibular involvement and should not be precluded from VFT. Patients should also be assessed for their functional impairments and not based on symptom checklist and objective test results alone. Hence, patients with normal VFT results can still benefit from a hybrid of vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) with focus on habituation.

Keywords

myasthenia gravis, dizziness, therapeutics, exercise, education

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