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Tongue force in patients with myasthenia gravis
Author(s) -
Weijnen F. G.,
Kuks J. B. M.,
Van Der Bilt A.,
Van Der Glas H. W.,
Wassenberg M. W. M.,
Bosman F.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0404.2000.102005303.x
Subject(s) - myasthenia gravis , tongue , swallowing , medicine , ocular myasthenia , bite force quotient , mastication , force transducer , surgery , dentistry , pathology , physics , acoustics
Objectives – The aim was to study tongue force in patients with bulbar myasthenia gravis and compare it with that of patients with ocular myasthenia gravis, patients in clinical remission who previously suffered from bulbar myasthenia gravis, and healthy subjects. Material and methods – Tongue force was measured with a tongue force transducer in cranial and lateral directions, which coincide with the directions in which the tongue exerts force during swallowing, speech, and mastication. Results – Tongue force in lateral direction was significantly decreased in patients with bulbar myasthenia gravis. In addition, our findings suggest an incomplete recovery of lateral tongue force in the patients of the remission group. Conclusion – Our tongue force measurements may be useful for longitudinal evaluation of therapy in individual patients and also in studies of therapy efficacy in matched groups of patients if the influence of factors such as age, dental state, and sex is taken into account.