OBJECTIVE We reviewed our overall experience on 163 patients, affected by myasthenia gravis, who underwent thymectomy between 1976 and 1998. A comparison between the oldest series of 72 patients (January 1976-December 1992), referred by various neurologists and operated on through different approaches, and the last 91 patients (January 1993-December 1998), taking part in a strict diagnostic-the...

INTRODUCTION Immunodeficiency can occur both in patients undergoing radiation therapy, as well as in patients who have had thymectomies. However, few studies have examined the immune recovery of a patient following both procedures. We aim to emphasize the need for assessment and consistent monitoring of patients with thymoma prior to and after combined treatment of thymectomy and radiation, bot...

BACKGROUND Transcervical thymectomy (TCT) is an accepted though controversial approach for thymectomy in myasthenia gravis (MG). The suggestion of thymoma on computed tomography (CT) has been considered a contraindication to TCT. We sought to determine whether the indications for TCT could be safely expanded to include selected patients with thymomas as well as other types of anterior mediastin...

BACKGROUND Thoracoscopic thymectomy has shown promise in the integrated management of myasthenia gravis (MG) although there is still scant data on long-term results. The aim of this study was to analyze long-term (>5 years) results of thoracoscopic extended thymectomy in nonthymomatous MG. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 32 patients operated on between 1995 and 2003. MG foundation of Amer...

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness. Approximately 70% of patients with MG have thymic hyperplasia, and 10–20% of them have thymoma. In MG patients without thymoma, thymectomy should be performed only in selected patients. In contrast, thymectomy should be performed in all patients with thymoma. In addition, thoracoscopic thymecto...

BACKGROUND Thymectomy is the mainstay of treatment for thymoma and other anterior mediastinal tumors, and is often utilized in the management of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). While traditionally approached through a median sternotomy, minimally invasive approaches to thymectomy have increasingly emerged. The present systematic review was conducted to compare perioperative and clinical o...