Thymectomy for myasthenia gravis: A pathological analysis

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a prototypic T-cell-dependent antibody-mediated autoimmune disease that leads to ocular or generalized muscular weakness. The disease is most commonly caused by antibodies to the acetylcholine receptors, often with underlying thymic pathology.

This study is aimed at analyzing the pathological spectrum of the excised thymuses in patients with myasthenia.

This was a retrospective 10-year study of 68 thymectomy specimens performed as a part of the treatment of patients with MG.

Nil.

There were 47 males and 21 females (male to female ratio of 2.2:1) with a mean age of 41 years. Only three patients presented with ocular myasthenia. The thymus was normal in 9 patients (13.2%) and atrophic in 17 patients (25%). Follicular hyperplasia and thymomas were seen in 6 and 36 patients, respectively.

The thymectomies performed in patients of MG had a fairly variable spectrum on histology; the thymic tumors were predominantly of the cortical phenotype.