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Thymectomy by thoracoscopic approach in myasthenia gravis
I Popescu1, V Tomulescu, V Ion
1Department of General Surgery and Liver Transplantation, Fundeni Clinical Institute, Sos. Fundeni 253, Sector 2, 72434, Bucharest, Romania. fundenip@com.pcnet.ro
Background:
A series of 25 thoracoscopic thymectomies performed in the Department of General Surgery and Liver Transplantation of the Fundeni Clinical Institute between April 1999 and April 2000 is analyzed.
Methods:
Thoroscopic thymectomies were performed on 4 male patients (16%) and 21 female patients (84%), aged between 8 and 60 years.
Results:
The mean operative time was 90 (+/-15) min. There were no conversions to open thymectomy. Mortality was nil, and morbidity consisted of one minor postoperative right pneumothorax probably related to a injury to right mediastinal pleura that was not observed intraoperatively. Hospital stay ranged from 2 to 4 days, with a mean of 2.28 days. The patients were transferred to the neurological department and they were usually discharged after 1 more day.
Conclusions:
Postoperatively, all patients had clinical improvement of their disease both in symptoms and medication requirements, but a longer follow-up is necessary. The results are edifying regarding the very low morbidity, the lack of mortality, the acceptance of the patients, and the short hospitalization.