Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery thymectomy versus open thymectomy in patients with myasthenia gravis: a...

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) thymectomy has become a feasible treatment for myasthenia gravis (MG) in recent years. The objective of the present meta-analysis was to evaluate the perioperative characteristics, safety, and completely stable remission rate in patients with MG who received VATS or open thymectomy (OT).

We searched PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and CNKI for related articles using combinations of the search terms video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy, transsternal thymectomy, and MG. The inter-study heterogeneity was assessed by χ²-based Q statistics, and the extent of inconsistency was generated by I² statistics.

A total of 12 studies with 1173 patients were included, and there was no difference in the operation time (p = 0.08) and ICU time (p = 0.14) between the two groups, but VATS thymectomy was associated with less intra-operation blood loss and hospital time (p < 0.00001). VATS was also associated with lower rates of total complication (OR =0.59; 95% CI, 0.37-0.94; p = 0.03) and myasthenic crisis (OR = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.28-0.92; p = 0.03), but the rates of pneumonia (OR = 0.59; 95% CI, 0.29-1.32; p = 0.21) and complete remission rate (CSR) (OR = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.38-1.09; p = 0.10) had no obvious differences between the VATS and OT groups.

Patients with MG undergoing VATS thymectomy achieved better surgical outcomes and fewer complications than those who received OT.