Thoracoscopic thymectomy in the treatment of myasthenia gravis

A series of 151 thoracoscopic thymectomy performed in the Department of General Surgery and Liver Transplantation of the Fundeni Clinical Institute between April 1999 and April 2004 is analyzed. These were 89.34% from all the thymectomies performed in our department in this period. Thoracoscopic thymectomies were performed on 131 female patients (86.75%) and 20 male patients (23.25%), aged between 8 and 60 years. All patients were previously treated in the Neurological Department of the Fundeni Clinical Institute for at least 3 months. The thoracoscopic thymectomy was indicated for: myasthenia gravis without thymic neoplasia (141 cases), stage I Masaoka thymoma (8 cases), remnant postoperative thymic tissue (3 cases). We have used a left thoracoscopic approach in 73 cases and a right thoracoscopic approach in 76 cases. In 2 cases a mixed cervical and thoracoscopic approach was needed.. No mortality and morbidity 6.62% (10 cases). From this 151 patients 100 have been constantly followed for more then one year. From the other 51, 32 are in the first postoperative year, and the other 19, 12.58% have been lost in surveillance. The one year evaluation regarding the Research Standards of Myasthenia Gravis Task Force Foundation shows: improvement--90% (complete stable remission--14%; pharmacological remission--20%; minimal manifestation--56%), unchanged--8%, worsened--2%. Our results with a complete stable remission of 14% at the end of the first year and 50% at 5 years are at least comparable with literature results with other open or thoracoscopic approaches.