Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00484:reg:7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00484
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 7
Character Range: 1598–3957

7               Kind of injury, disease or death to which this Statement of Principles relates
(1)          This Statement of Principles is about myasthenia gravis and death from myasthenia gravis.
Meaning of myasthenia gravis
(2)          For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, myasthenia gravis:

            (a)          means an autoimmune neuromuscular disorder due to impaired neuromuscular signal transmission as a result of an immunologic process directed at acetylcholine receptors or other proteins of the postsynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction and characterised by weakness and fatigability of skeletal muscles; and
            (b)          excludes myasthenic syndromes such as congenital myasthenia gravis and Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome.
Note: Examples of clinical worsening might include:

               (a)     a persistent increase in the weakness of muscles already affected or when additional muscles are affected (such as the development of upper limb weakness when previously only ocular muscles were affected);

               (b)     a persistent increase in the requirement for treatment of myasthenia gravis, which may include increasing the dose of a particular drug, the addition of new drugs, the introduction of plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin, or the need for hospitalisation; and

               (c)     an episode of severe myasthenia gravis resulting in myasthenic crisis or death.
(3)          While myasthenia gravis attracts ICD‑10‑AM code G70.0, in applying this Statement of Principles the meaning of myasthenia gravis is that given in subsection (2).
(4)          For subsection (3), a reference to an ICD-10-AM code is a reference to the code assigned to a particular kind of injury or disease in The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM), Tenth Edition, effective date of 1 July 2017, copyrighted by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, ISBN 978-1-76007-296-4.
Death from myasthenia gravis
(5)          For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, myasthenia gravis, in relation to a person, includes death from a terminal event or condition that was contributed to by the person's myasthenia gravis.
Note: terminal event is defined in the Schedule 1 – Dictionary.