We have demonstrated that thymectomy alone can improve many patients with myasthenia gravis, including those with the late onset form of the disorder. A key advantage to this approach is that it avoids the necessity of concurrent medication. While a drug-free approach has advantages for any patient, it is particularly well suited for those over the age of 55. Based on the results of our study, ...

We have reported the usefulness of the subxiphoid approach in thymectomy. However, such a new operation method may have unknown complications that rarely occur. Surgeons cannot completely avoid intraoperative and postoperative complications. We report a case of intraoperative injury of the orifice of the left internal thoracic vein flowing to the left brachiocephalic vein and postoperative peri...

Thymectomy is performed in infants during cardiothoracic surgery leaving many patients with reduced thympopoiesis. An association between immune disorders and regulatory T cells (Treg) after incidental thymectomy has not been investigated. Questionnaires soliciting symptoms of atopic or autoimmune disease and biomarkers were measured in children and adults with congenital heart disease and eith...

Paraneoplastic syndromes (PS) are the consequences of hormones or immune cross-reactivity produced by a tumor. Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is an extremely rare PS resulting from thymoma. Here, case 55-year-old woman presenting progressive generalized edema and foamy urine reported. The patient’s chest CT scan showed anterior mediastinum with intramural punctate calcification size 8.6x7.0x10.2 cm. w...

was detected, most of their patients required prednisone treatment after thymectomy. In fact, they showed the remission rate to be 40% in younger patients, but 8% in older patients. 5 Considering these observations together, we emphasize that the prognosis after thymectomy in older patients is not as good as in younger patients, and that their clinical features constitute a particular challenge...

Past studies have shown that thymectomy in the mouse at 3 days of age but not at birth or after 7 days produces, in later life, a variety of localized autoimmune lesions. In the present work, 3-day thymectomy facilitated subsequent sarcogenesis by low dosages of 3-methylcholanthrene but inhibited oncogenesis by a high dosage. If the presence of autoimmunity implies an increased antitumor immuni...

Late onset seroma is a rare post-operative complication occurring after various surgeries including thymectomy. Most cases are asymptomatic; however, seromas occurring in the mediastinal cavity may cause compression symptoms including airway compression or cardiac tamponade. We present a 62-year-old male with a history of thymectomy for myasthenia gravis who presented with cardiac tamponade sev...

A best evidence topic in thoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was: Does repeat thymectomy improve symptoms in patients with refractory myasthenia gravis after thymectomy? A total of 189 papers were found using the reported search, of which seven represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The outcome measures included operati...

We report two cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients who had undergone thymectomy. SLE developed in the patients 3 months or 13 yr after thymectomy, and polyarthritis was the main clinical manifestation of SLE. Both patients fulfilled at least four of the revised criteria for the classification of SLE. In this report, we describe two postthymectomy lupus ...