Impact of Early Treatment with Intravenous High-Dose Methylprednisolone for Ocular Myasthenia Gravis

The efficacy of intravenous high-dose methylprednisolone (IVMP) in ocular myasthenia gravis (MG) has not been fully established. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of early intervention with IVMP for achieving the therapeutic targets (minimal manifestations [MM] or MM or better status with prednisolone ≤ 5 mg/day [MM5mg]) in ocular MG. In this observational study, we included a total of 1710 consecutive patients with MG enrolled in the Japan MG Registry in 2021. Of these, 204 patients with ocular MG who received immunotherapy were analyzed. The clinical course and time to first achieve MM or MM5mg after starting immunotherapy were compared between the early IVMP group (treated with IVMP within 3 months of treatment initiation) and the non-early IVMP group. Despite having greater clinical severity before immunotherapy and lower oral prednisolone doses throughout the course, the early IVMP group ( n = 55) showed a higher rate of achievement of MM ( P = 0.0040, log-rank test; hazard ratio 1.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13–2.20, P < 0.0001) and MM5mg ( P = 0.0005, log-rank test; hazard ratio 1.78, 95% CI 1.27–2.51, P < 0.0001) compared with the non-early IVMP group ( n = 149). In conclusion, an early intervention with IVMP is likely to increase the probability of achieving a better long-term outcome and reducing the total dose of corticosteroids in ocular MG.