[Surgical therapy of myasthenia gravis and thymoma]

Between 1986 and 1992 eighteen patients underwent transsternal radical thymectomy at the Department of Surgery of the RWTH Aachen. Operation was indicated for myasthenia gravis (n = 14) or suspect of thymoma (n = 4). Patients with myasthenia were preoperatively classified according to Osserman and postoperatively with respect to their clinical status and drug dosages. Patients with thymoma were classified according to Masaoka. After a mean follow-up period of 43.6 months 76.9% of the patients with myasthenia demonstrated a significant improvement. All patients with thymoma were free of recurrence.