Browsing by Author "Mozaffar, Tahseen"

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    Investigating Late-Onset Pompe Prevalence in Neuromuscular Medicine Academic Practices: The IPaNeMA Study
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2021-10-18) Wencel, Marie; Shaibani, Aziz; Goyal, Namita A.; Dimachkie, Mazen M.; Trivedi, Jaya; Johnson, Nicholas E.; Gutmann, Laurie; Wicklund, Matthew P.; Bandyopadhay, Sankar; Genge, Angela L.; Freimer, Miriam L.; Goyal, Neelam; Pestronk, Alan; Florence, Julaine; Karam, Chafic; Ralph, Jeffrey W.; Rasheed, Zinah; Hays, Melissa; Hopkins, Steve; Mozaffar, Tahseen; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background and objectives: We investigated the prevalence of late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) in patients presenting to 13 academic, tertiary neuromuscular practices in the United States and Canada. Methods: All successive patients presenting with proximal muscle weakness or isolated hyperCKemia and/or neck muscle weakness to these 13 centers were invited to participate in the study. Whole blood was tested for acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) assay through the fluorometric method, and all cases with enzyme levels of ≤10 pmoL/punch/h were reflexed to molecular testing for mutations in the GAA gene. Clinical and demographic information was abstracted from their clinical visit and, along with study data, entered into a purpose-built REDCap database, and analyzed at the University of California, Irvine. Results: GAA enzyme assay results were available on 906 of the 921 participants who consented for the study. LOPD was confirmed in 9 participants (1% prevalence). Another 9 (1%) were determined to have pseudodeficiency of GAA, whereas 19 (1.9%) were found to be heterozygous for a pathogenic GAA mutation (carriers). Of the definite LOPD participants, 8 (89%) were Caucasian and were heterozygous for the common leaky (IVS1) splice site mutation in the GAA gene (c -32-13T>G), with a second mutation that was previously confirmed to be pathogenic. Discussion: The prevalence of LOPD in undiagnosed patients meeting the criteria of proximal muscle weakness, high creatine kinase, and/or neck weakness in academic, tertiary neuromuscular practices in the United States and Canada is estimated to be 1%, with an equal prevalence rate of pseudodeficiency alleles.
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    Long-term effect of thymectomy in patients with non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis treated with prednisone: 2-year extension of the MGTX randomised tria
    (Elsevier, 2019-03) Wolfe, Gil I.; Kaminski, Henry J.; Aban, Inmaculada B.; Minisman, Greg; Kuo, Hui-Chien; Marx, Alexander; Ströbel, Philipp; Mazia, Claudio; Oger, Joel; Cea, J. Gabriel; Heckmann, Jeannine M.; Evoli, Amelia; Nix, Wilfred; Ciafaloni, Emma; Antonini, Giovanni; Witoonpanich, Rawiphan; King, John O.; Beydoun, Said R.; Chalk, Colin H.; Barboi, Alexandru C.; Amato, Anthony A.; Shaibani, Aziz I.; Katirji, Bashar; Lecky, Bryan R. F.; Buckley, Camilla; Vincent, Angela; Dias-Tosta, Elza; Yoshikawa, Hiroaki; Waddington-Cruz, Márcia; Pulley, Michael T.; Rivner, Michael H.; Kostera-Pruszczyk, Anna; Pascuzzi, Robert M.; Jackson, Carlayne E.; Verschuuren, Jan J. G. M.; Massey, Janice M.; Kissel, John T.; Werneck, Lineu C.; Benatar, Michael; Barohn, Richard J.; Tandan, Rup; Mozaffar, Tahseen; Silvestri, Nicholas J.; Conwit, Robin; Sonett, Joshua R.; Jaretzki, Alfred, III; Newsom-Davis, John; Cutter, Gary R.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: The MGTX trial demonstrated that thymectomy combined with prednisone was superior to prednisone alone in improving clinical status measured by the Quantitative MG (QMG) score in patients with non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis at 3 years. We investigated the long-term effects of thymectomy up to 5 years on clinical status, medication requirements, and adverse events. Methods: A multicentre, rater-blinded 2-year extension study was conducted across 36 centres in 15 countries for patients who completed the MGTX randomised, controlled trial and were willing to participate. MGTX trial patients were aged 18 to 65 years at enrollment, had generalised non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis (MG) with disease duration less than 5 years and elevated (≥1.00 nmol/l; 0.50–0.99 nmol/l allowed if confirmed by positive edrophonium or electrophysiologic testing) acetylcholine receptor antibody titers.. All patients received oral prednisone at doses titrated up to 100 mg on alternate days until they achieved minimal manifestation status. The primary endpoints were the time-weighted average of both the QMG and alternate-day prednisone dose from month 0 to month 60. Analyses were by intention-to-treat. The trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT00294658. Findings: Of 111 subjects who completed the 3-year MGTX trial, 68 (61%) entered the extension study between September 1, 2009 and August 26, 2015 (33 prednisone alone; 35 prednisone plus thymectomy). Of the 68, 50 (74%) completed the 60-month assessment (24 prednisone alone; 26 prednisone plus thymectomy). At 5 years, patients randomised to thymectomy plus prednisone continued to demonstrate improved clinical status compared to patients in the prednisone alone group based on time-weighted average QMG (5.47±3.87 vs. 9.34±5.08; 95% CI for the difference 0.71–7.04; p=0.0007) and lower average alternate-day prednisone requirements (24 mg±21 mg vs. 48±29 mg; 95% CI for the difference 12–36 mg; p=0.0002). The proportion of patients requiring hospitalisation for MG exacerbation (6% vs. 30%; 95% CI for the difference 7.1–42.1%; p=0.0105) was lower in the thymectomy group. Other MEDRA-coded adverse events were infrequent, occurring at a rate of ≤6% in both groups and did not differ significantly between them. There were no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation: After 5 years, thymectomy continues to confer benefits in generalised non-thymomatous MG. Although caution in predicting benefit for all such patients is appropriate since the extension study included only half of MGTX trial subjects, results available through month 60 provide further evidence to support thymectomy in this large group of patients with generalised MG.