Publisher's Synopsis
Myasthenia gravis is a chronic, disabling disease in which the lesion is located between the nerve and the muscle, at the neuromuscular junction, affecting the somatic nervous system and therefore only striated muscles. The lesion is not located in the muscle: it is therefore not a myopathy in the strict sense of the term. The nerve no longer correctly transmits to the muscle the nervous excitation that triggers muscle contraction. The result is muscle weakness of varying intensity and duration. Myasthenia is also an autoimmune disease, like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or certain forms of insulin-dependent diabetes. These diseases are characterized by the destruction of certain body components by the immune system, which mistakenly recognizes them as foreign elements. Considered an orphan disease, myasthenia has no curative treatment, only a preventive one.
