Patients with respiratory muscle paralysis may require artificial ventilation until their condition improves. Barring complications, such as pneumonia, recovery usually occurs, although it may take weeks or months. The disease appears due to a decrease in the number of chemical receptors in the muscles. With a decreased number of muscle receptors the released ACh cannot stimulate the muscles normally. Myasthenia can affect muscles anywhere in the body, including the respiratory muscles.
Some patients can develop respiratory failure.
Once polio or Guillain Barr Syndrome have set in there is no specific treatment. If respiratory failure occurs, ventilatory support will be required until reversal by treatment. Although patients with myasthenia may suffer complications such as aspiration pneumonia, atelectasis, or pulmonary embolism, the disease itself does not involve the lungs or airways. Kyphoscoliosis is a condition of the bones manifested by abnormal curvature of the spine. The kyphoscoliosis patient has a spine that causes him or her to be slightly hunched over and bent to one side.