Effective treatment options for myasthenia
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness and fatigue. These symptoms occur particularly after repeated muscle strain. Other common symptoms include double vision, difficulty swallowing, difficulty speaking, difficulty breathing, and muscle weakness in the arms and legs. Without appropriate therapy, the symptoms can significantly affect the quality of life. One myastenia can also affect other areas of the body, such as the eyelids, neck or back. It is about a fluctuating muscle weakness, which may vary from day to day. The intensity and combination of symptoms vary from person to person.
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There are a number of approaches to control symptoms and improve patients' overall well-being. Various medications such as cholinesterase inhibitors are used to improve communication between nerves and muscles and reduce muscle weakness. At the immunotherapy For example, immunosuppressive medications such as glucocorticoids, immunoglobulins or targeted therapies are used. They help suppress the immune system and reduce the formation of harmful antibodies. Blood washing (called plasmapheresis) is a procedure in which blood plasma is cleaned to remove harmful antibodies. Our app is based on the telemedicine and remote monitoring approach to track the disease progression and adjust treatment accordingly.
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Improved diagnosis, treatment and quality of life in myasthenia
Patients with rare diseases such as myasthenia require extremely specialized and individual treatment. In order to give all patients, regardless of time and place, access to a specialist for the best possible care, we have developed the telemedicine platform MyaLink in close collaboration with our software partner and the patient organization. With the help of this app, patients are connected to their specialist in real time and can exchange health information.
This allows for continuous monitoring of symptoms and disease progression. If necessary, patients and practitioners can communicate with each other using the app's messaging function (chat function). The therapy can also be adjusted remotely by the practitioner. The aim is to prevent myasthenic crises, improve the quality of life of myasthenia gravis patients and increase patient safety.
MyaLink was always developed with a special focus on the needs of patients. The patient organization and the active involvement of patients were taken into account in all development phases. The development also received support through funding and as part of funding programs at the Charité. In 2023, a clinical study was carried out at the Charité in which MyaLink was successfully used by a group of patients for the first time.
A close exchange with myasthenia patients
MyaLink is currently evaluating the study results. We are in close contact with the patient organization and the integrated myasthenia centers (iMZ) in Germany and hope that MyaLink will soon be available to a larger number of myasthenia gravis patients. Our goal is to give every myasthenia gravis patient access to MyaLink. In addition, we are working on using MyaLink in the Charité university outpatient clinics in the near future. At the same time, scientific projects are currently underway to research innovative questions, such as the possibility of early detection of myasthenic crises using telemedical monitoring and the identification of digital biomarkers in this context.