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Have Had Myasthenia Gravis. On Prednisone. Knee Replacement With Anesthesia. Any Advice?

Posted on Fri, 21 Dec 2012

Question: I have had MG for just over 4 years. In that time I've had multiple crisis - mostly during the summer. After the first time, I've mostly controlled them with prednisone and have dug my way out with self chosen high levels of prednisone. I just had a total knee replacement with general anesthetic. The knee replacement (4 days ago) and recovery seems to be setting records in this town. This seems to have thrown me to the bottom of an MG crisis and I'm inquiring about the interactions between general anesthesia, prednisone and MG stability. I expect to go home from the hospital in several hours ...just 4 days after the replacement.
Thanks for any advice.

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (13 hours later)

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query.

MG (myasthenia gravis) is an auto-immune disease with circulating antibodies in the blood, which weaken the muscles. The level of antibodies in the blood determines the severity of illness in most cases.

Prednisolone is a drug that reduces the level of these antibodies thereby reducing the severity of MG.

Any stress including surgery or GA may worsen the MG and may lead to crisis.

The fact that yiu have done well is a good news.

Please get back for any more queries.

Best wishes,

Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM XXXXXXX consultant Neurologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar