SFEMG in ocular myasthenia gravis diagnosis

Background and objective: In typical cases, the patient's history and clini cal examination make it possible to diagnose ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) . But, in many cases a clear clinical picture is not present and OMG diagno sis is very difficult because gold diagnostic standard tests are not availa ble. The diagnostic tests for OMG are usually unable to display a good sens itivity and specificity simultaneously. In this paper, we studied 86 cases submitted for suspected OMG. Methods: The patients were studied clinically and with various other tests used in OMG diagnosis (SFEMG, repetitive nerve stimulation, Ab anti AChR ti tration, tensilon test). Results and conclusion: SFEMG showed the highest sensitivity (100%) while A b anti AChR showed the highest specificity (100%). To our knowledge this is the largest population of suspected OMG studied using most of the diagnost ic parameters, reported in the literature. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Irelan d Ltd. All rights reserved.