[Anesthesia with continuous + infusion of propofol for trans-sternal thymectomy in myasthenic patients]

Patients with myasthenia gravis respond unpredictably to muscle relaxants and more often suffer respiratory complications after surgery. We describe the use of total intravenous anesthesia with propofol and alfentanil without muscle relaxants is three myasthenic patients classified as Osserman I-IIB. Mean time since appearance of the disease was 1 year and all were undergoing transsternal thymectomy. Time in surgery ranged from 115 to 170 min and mean total dose of propofol was 1,374 mg. In all cases total intravenous anesthesia afforded good conditions for intubation, maintenance during surgery and rapid recovery from anesthesia, with early extubation.