Reversible man-in-the-barrel syndrome in myasthenia gravis

Man-in-the-barrel syndrome (MBS) is an uncommon presentation due to bilateral, predominantly proximal muscle weakness that has not been described to be associated with myasthenia gravis. We describe a case of myasthenia gravis presenting as MBS. Additionally, he had significant wasting of the deltoids bilaterally with fibrillations on electromyography (EMG) at rest and brief duration (3-6 ms) bi/triphasic motor unit potentials (MUPs) on submaximal effort apart from a decremental response on repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) at 2 Hz. While electrophysiology is an important tool in the diagnosis of myasthenia gravis, pathological EMG patterns do not exclude the diagnosis of myasthenia gravis