This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To contribute to a better understanding of a poorly appreciated pioneer of therapeutic neurology, Mary Broadfoot Walker, MD.
Background: At a time when the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG) was "a source of discouragement to the patient and a cause of nightmare for the physician," Mary Walker demonstrated that temporary relief of myasthenic symptoms could be produced by subcutaneous injection of physostigmine or neostigmine (Prostigmin; Roche, Basel, Switzerland). She also pioneered the concept of a circulating factor as the etiology of myasthenia and was the first to report hypokalemia in familial periodic paralysis. Throughout her career she was dependent on her salaried jobs as a medical officer in several large London hospitals and was thus forced to turn down an offer of an honorary staff position with research beds.
Design/Methods: Previously unpublished material written by persons who lived at the same time as Mary Walker is incorporated with the published record into an account of Mary Walker's accomplishments as assessed by her contemporaries.
Results: 1) Although Mary Walker's 1934 report on physostigmine for MG was ignored by most of those in clinical medicine at the time, those responsible for the financing of British medical research vainly hoped that it could be used as an example of the practical outcome of basic research. 2) Her 1935 demonstration of the beneficial effect of neostigmine (Prostigmin) was greeted with general skepticism because of the rapidity with which the patient's symptoms of myasthenic weakness improved, but she was soon vindicated by published confirmatory reports from several contemporaries. 3) Her 1938 demonstrations of what came to be known as "the Mary Walker effect" may have helped her reputation because subsequent published opinions of her contributions were generally favorable, although some people continue to disparage her even today.
Conclusion: Mary Walker, with her brief case reports and her frequent demonstrations, not only offered symptomatic treatment for MG that has stood the test of time, but also provided the most convincing evidence at the time that the neuromuscular junction was the focus of the disease.
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
