MAXIMAL THYMECTOMY FOR MYASTHENIA-GRAVIS

Maximal thymectomy was carried out in 48 patients with myasthenia grav is (MG). There were 18 males and 30 females. Thymic hyperplasia was fo und in 38, and atrophic thymus in 8, patients, Two patients had thymom a. In the non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis complete remission was ach ieved in 16 patients (34.8%) and pharmacological remission in 20 patie nts (43.5%) thus giving a total remission in 36 (78.3%) patients. Six patients (13%) improved. There was no improvement in four patients. Th us, the overall benefit from thymectomy was 91.4% in this series. We f ound that sex, age at onset of disease and steroid therapy influenced the outcome of thymectomy. On the other hand, duration of disease, ant i-acetylcholine receptor (AntiAchR) antibodies and thymic histology di d not have any bearing on the complete remission rate.