Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2017; 75(11): 825-826
DOI: 10.1590/0004-282X20170138
Historical Note

Mary Broadfoot Walker: 83 years since a historical discovery

Mary Broadfoot Walker: 83 anos desde uma descoberta histórica
Vitor Martinez de Carvalho
1   Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Departamento de Neurologia, Santos SP, Brasil.
,
Eduardo de Almeida Guimarães Nogueira
1   Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Departamento de Neurologia, Santos SP, Brasil.
,
Gleysson Rodrigues Rosa
2   Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Charlestown, MA USA.
,
Yara Dadalti Fragoso
1   Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Departamento de Neurologia, Santos SP, Brasil.
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
Also available at
   Permissions and Reprints

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.

RESUMO

Mary Broadfoot Walker foi uma médica escocesa que em 1935 descreveu em grande detalhe o efeito de uma droga anticolinesterásica (fisostigmina) nos sinais e sintomas da myasthenia gravis. Um filme original com cinco minutos de duração está disponível online e a reação cética dos colegas médicos contemporâneos de Mary é compreensível dado o drástico efeito terapêutico mostrado neste filme. O que Mary Walker nos ensinou mais de oito décadas atrás continua a ser a base de um teste diagnóstico farmacológico e do tratamento da myasthenia gravis.

Keywords:

myasthenia gravis - physostigmine - neostigmine - acetylcholinesterase

Palavras-chave:

miastenia gravis - fisostigmina - neostigmina - acetilcolinesterase


Publication History

Received: 13 June 2017

Accepted: 05 August 2017

Article published online:
01 September 2023

© 2023. Academia Brasileira de Neurologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda.
Rua do Matoso 170, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 20270-135, Brazil

 

  • References

  • 1 Sourkes TL. The Discovery of neurotransmitters and applications to neurology. Handb Clin Neurol. 2010;95:869-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0072-9752(08)02154-4
  • 2 Walker MB. Treatment of myasthenia gravis with physostigmine. The Lancet 1934;1200-1.
  • 3 Walker MB. Case showing the effect of prostigmin on myasthenia gravis. Proc R Soc Med. 1935;28(6):759-61.
  • 4 Croitoru C, Turliuc D, Danciu F, Cucu A, Costea C. The miracle of St. Alfege's Hospital and the history of the treatment of myasthenia gravis. Rom Neurosurg. 2017;1:73-9. https://doi.org/10.1515/romneu-2017-0011
  • 5 1935 Prostigmin demonstration for MG. 2007 [cited 2017 Aug 1]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRoRsmvkhTI
  • 6 Walker MB. Some discoveries on myasthenia gravis: the background. Br Med J. 1973;2(5857):42-3.
  • 7 Aitken RS, Allot EN, Gastelden LIM, Walker MB. Observations on a case of familial periodic paralysis. Clin Sci. 1937;3:47-57.
  • 8 Klawans, Harold L. Why Michael couldn't hit: and other tales of the neurology of sports. New York: W.H. Freeman; 1996.
  • 9 Lee MR. The miracle of St. Alfege's: discovering a treatment for myaesthenia gravis. J Royal Soc Med. 2007;100(2):108-109.
  • 10 Pearce JMS. Mary Broadfoot Walker (1888-1974): a historic discovery in myasthenia gravis. Eur Neurol. 2005;53:51-3. https://doi.org/10.1159/000084268