A Study of 15 Cases of Thoracoscopic Thymectomies in Myasthenia Gravis Patients

Dr Ameya Thakur, Dr Bahar Kulkarni

Abstract: Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease affecting patients’ quality of life and necessitating long-term medical therapy. The efficacy of surgical removal of thymus for treatment of MG has been well established. Although several techniques have been used for thymectomy, there has been controversy over the best method with highest rate of improvement. Herein, we discuss our three years of clinical experience with thoracoscopic thymectomy for MG. Materials and Methods: We evaluated all patients who were operated on with preoperative diagnosis of non-thymomatous and thymomatous MG from 2017 to 2020 in our tertiary care institute). All patients underwent thoracoscopic thymectomy, and rates of remission and cumulative improvement were compared to those reported by other studies. Results: Thoracoscopic thymectomy was performed in 15 patients with MG. The rate of complete remission and cumulative improvement at the end of the third year was 44.1 % and 85.3 %, respectively. Patients who were operated early after the diagnosis showed higher improvement rate, although it was not statistically significant (P=0.065). Conclusion: Thoracoscopic thymectomy is a safe and effective procedure for treatment of MG with comparable results to other techniques. Thymectomy immediately after the diagnosis may be associated with higher improvement rate.

Keywords: Thymectomy, Thoracoscopic thymectomy, Myasthenia Gravis