Thymectomy in human renal transplantation.

We reviewed 17 patients submitted to thymectomy via the suprasternal notch (Yoshimatsu Method I), which was performed before transplantation in 12 patients and after transplantation in 5 patients. There were no complications of thymectomy. Graft survival of our patients with thymectomy was better than that for the overall allograft survival in Japan transplant registry for the same period. Pathologic studies revealed that involution of the cortex was not observed in 5 thymuses removed from recipients who had thymectomy after transplantation even though 2 of them had received 6.4 g and 3.5 g of prednisolone for 19 months and 32 months, respectively.