Mary Broadfoot Walker: 83 years since a historical discovery

ABSTRACT Mary Broadfoot Walker was a Scottish physician who, in 1935, described in great detail the effect of an anticholinesterase drug (physostigmine) on the signs and symptoms of myasthenia gravis. An original five-minutes movie is available online and the skepticism of her contemporary British m...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vitor Martinez de Carvalho, Eduardo de Almeida Guimarães Nogueira, Gleysson Rodrigues Rosa, Yara Dadalti Fragoso
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO)
Series:Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2017001100825&lng=en&tlng=en
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT Mary Broadfoot Walker was a Scottish physician who, in 1935, described in great detail the effect of an anticholinesterase drug (physostigmine) on the signs and symptoms of myasthenia gravis. An original five-minutes movie is available online and the skepticism of her contemporary British medical doctors is understandable when the drastic effect of the treatment is shown in this movie. What Mary Walker taught us, more than eight decades ago, about myasthenia gravis continues to be the basis of a pharmacological diagnostic test and treatment of this disease.
ISSN:1678-4227