Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.1.8 (cholinesterase)
 12,691 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Ocular myasthenia is a special form of general myasthenia gravis characterized by unilateral or bilateral ptosis and eye muscle pareses of distinct variability, depending on the time of day and the state of fatigue of the patient. Most important for diagnosis is the Tensilon test, which can, however, produce negative results. In such cases a combination of the Tensilon test with electromyography is indispensable. In ocular myasthenia there is not always an increase in the antibody titer against acetylcholine receptors in the blood. The treatment of ocular myasthenia is based on the application of cholinesterase inhibitors. The drug of choice is Mestinon; however, the reaction of the eye muscles to this drug is often unsatisfactory. Local application of cholinesterase inhibitors in the form of Eserine, Prostigmin etc. is an additional important therapy. Also in ocular myasthenia the modern treatment with Cortisone (alternate-day therapy with 100 mg Prednisone every second day) has proved very useful. Another possible method of interfering with the immunological systems of myasthenia is immunosuppression with Azathioprin or Cyclophosphamide. The pathognomonic significance of the thymus in the autoimmune process of myasthenia gravis is demonstrated by the good results obtained by thymectomy, which can also be performed successfully in ocular myasthenia, not only in young patients in whom the condition is severe, but also in older patients in whom it is chronic. Often, the therapeutic measures mentioned have to be tested one after another or in combination in order to achieve an optimal therapeutic effect.
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PMID:[Ocular myasthenia]. 399 98

The Authors have evaluated the serum cholinesterase activity in patients subjected to 2 different schemes of polychemotherapy: COP (CTX, VCR, Prednisone) and C-MOPP (CTX, VCR, PCZ, Prednisone). The two schemes involve the administration of cyclophosphamide that, as has already been proved, significantly lowers serum cholinesterase level after only a few hours. The Authors have observed that the combination of cyclophosphamide with other antiblastic drugs or a longer treatment have little influence on the down curve of the serum cholinesterase in relation to what they have observed after treatment with cyclophosphamide alone.
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PMID:[Evaluation of serum BuChe activity during polychemotherapy based on COP and C-MOPP protocols]. 733 62

Myasthenia gravis is the most common neuromuscular junction disorder and the best understood autoimmune disease of the nervous system. The autoimmune attack leads to decreased concentrations of the AChR and results in fatigability of skeletal muscles increasing with activity and improving with rest. The treatment of myasthenia has improved dramatically over the last few decades, with an increasing number of immunotherapies used in management although not all of them have been formally tested in double-blind, prospective trials. The principles of treatment consist in optimizing neuromuscular junction function by use of cholinesterase inhibitors, inducing an immunologic remission and then maintaining that remission by long-term immunotherapies. Prednisone and/or azathioprine are the most effective. Short-term immunotherapies, i.e. intravenous immunoglobulin or plasmapheresis, are indicated for disease exacerbation. For patients with nonthymomatous autoimmune myasthenia, the effectiveness of thymectomy remains uncertain. The overall objective of therapy is to enable patients to lead a normal life as rapidly as possible, while limiting side effects and costs if possible. Treatment should be individualized. The aggressiveness of therapy should be balanced against a number of factors including distribution of muscle involvement, rate of progression, degree of functional impairment, lifestyle choice, and coexisting disease. In all cases, adequate education, for the patient and the physician, is most helpful in facilitating management of this chronic disease.
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PMID:[Treatment of autoimmune myasthenia]. 1983 41

Efficacy of Prednisone in the Treatment of Ocular Myasthenia (EPITOME) is a multicenter, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial that is being conducted under the auspices of the Muscle Study Group. EPITOME is the first randomized control trial in patients with ocular myasthenia and aims to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of prednisone over a period of four months in patients with newly diagnosed ocular myasthenia whose symptoms have failed to remit in response to a trial of cholinesterase inhibitor therapy.
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PMID:Design of the efficacy of prednisone in the treatment of ocular myasthenia (EPITOME) trial. 2327 73