TY - JOUR
T1 - The Mary Walker effect
T2 - Mary Broadfoot Walker
AU - McCarter, History Stuart J.
AU - Burkholder, David B.
AU - Humanities, James P.Klaas
AU - Martinez-Thompson, Jennifer M.
AU - Boes, Christopher J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Mary Broadfoot Walker (1888–1974) was the first to demonstrate the ‘Mary Walker effect’ describing the weakness of other muscle groups following release of the arteriovenous occlusion of an unrelated exercising muscle Abstract group in patients with myasthenia gravis, which led to the search for a circulating causative agent for myasthenia gravis. She was the first to clearly demonstrate that strength temporarily improved in patients with myasthenia gravis with physostigmine or Prostigmin (neostigmine). This dramatic treatment response has been erroneously termed the ‘Mary Walker effect’. Further, she noted hypokalaemia during attacks of weakness in familial periodic paralysis, pioneering treatment with potassium chloride. Although Mary Walker practiced in a nonacademic setting and trained at a time when women were not allowed to train alongside men, she was the first to convincingly demonstrate three life-changing treatments in the field of neuromuscular medicine, a feat that few physicians of any era can claim.
AB - Mary Broadfoot Walker (1888–1974) was the first to demonstrate the ‘Mary Walker effect’ describing the weakness of other muscle groups following release of the arteriovenous occlusion of an unrelated exercising muscle Abstract group in patients with myasthenia gravis, which led to the search for a circulating causative agent for myasthenia gravis. She was the first to clearly demonstrate that strength temporarily improved in patients with myasthenia gravis with physostigmine or Prostigmin (neostigmine). This dramatic treatment response has been erroneously termed the ‘Mary Walker effect’. Further, she noted hypokalaemia during attacks of weakness in familial periodic paralysis, pioneering treatment with potassium chloride. Although Mary Walker practiced in a nonacademic setting and trained at a time when women were not allowed to train alongside men, she was the first to convincingly demonstrate three life-changing treatments in the field of neuromuscular medicine, a feat that few physicians of any era can claim.
KW - Familial periodic paralysis
KW - History of neurology
KW - Mary Walker
KW - Myasthenia gravis
KW - Prostigmin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071969131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071969131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4997/JRCPE.2019.317
DO - 10.4997/JRCPE.2019.317
M3 - Article
C2 - 31497797
AN - SCOPUS:85071969131
SN - 1478-2715
VL - 49
SP - 255
EP - 259
JO - Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
JF - Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
IS - 3
ER -