Plasma exchange versus intravenous immunoglobulin treatment in myasthenic crisis

Article abstract We performed a retrospective multicenter chart review to compare the efficacy and tolerance of plasma exchange (PE) and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) in treatment of 54 episodes of myasthenic crisis. After adjustment for other variables, PE (compared with IVIg) was associated with a superior ventilatory status at 2 weeks (partial F = 6.2, p = 0.02) and 1 month functional outcome (partial F = 4.5, p = 0.04). However, the complication rate was higher with PE compared with IVIg (13 versus 5 episodes, p = 0.07).