Abstract
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a debilitating disease which necessitates long-term medical therapy. If left untreated, it can have a high mortality rate. The commonest variety in children, the autoimmune variety, often requires recourse to immunomodulation including prolonged usage of high-dose steroids. Thymectomy has not been a popular option among treating clinicians. There is evidence to suggest that if thymectomy is performed early in the disease, it has a high success rate in reducing the doses of the oral steroid medication and also in inducing remission of the disease. We have performed video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) thymectomy in four patients with the autoimmune variety of MG. In this study, we have had a fair and comparable success rate as with the other adult series. On the basis of this preliminary study, we recommend that the option of VATS thymectomy should be offered to select patients of MG.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
(2007) Nelson textbook of pediatrics. In: Kliegman (ed) Disorders of neuromuscular transmission and of motor neurons. 18th edn, Chap 611, Saunders, Philadelphia
Sanders DB, Howard JF Jr (2008) Disorders of neuromuscular transmission. In: Bradley (ed) Neurology in clinical practice, 5th edn. Chap 82, pp 2383–2396
Mineo TC, Pompeo E (2010) Extended videothoracoscopic thymectomy in nonthymomatous myasthenia gravis. Thorac Surg Clin 20(2):253–263
Magee MJ, Mack MJ (2009) Surgical approaches to the thymus in patients with myasthenia gravis. Thorac Surg Clin 19(1):83–89 (vii)
Kogut KA, Bufo AJ, Rothenberg SS, Lobe TE (2001) Thoracoscopic thymectomy for myasthenia gravis in children. Pediatr Endosurg Innovative Tech 5:113
Wolfe Gil I, Barohn Richard J (2006) Diseases of the neuromuscular junction. In: Swaiman KF, Ashwal S, Ferriero DM (eds) Pediatric neurology: principles and practice, edition 4, vol 2, Elsevier Health Sciences, pp 1941–1968
Pompeo E, Tacconi F, Massa R, Mineo D, Nahmias S, Mineo TC (2009) Long-term outcome of thoracoscopic extended thymectomy for nonthymomatous myasthenia gravis. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 36(1):164–169
Lin MW, Chang YL, Huang PM, Lee YC (2010) Thymectomy for non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis: a comparison of surgical methods and analysis of prognostic factors. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 37(1):7–12
Tormoehlen LM, Pascuzzi RM (2008) Thymoma, myasthenia gravis, and other paraneoplastic syndromes. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 22(3):509–526
Youssef SJ, Louie BE, Farivar AS, Blitz M, Aye RW, Vallières E (2010) Comparison of open and minimally invasive thymectomies at a single institution. Am J Surg 199(5):589–593
Komanapalli CB, Cohen JI, Sukumar MS (2010) Extended transcervical video-assisted thymectomy. Thorac Surg Clin 20(2):235–243
Ng CS, Wan IY, Yim AP (2010) Video-assisted thoracic surgery thymectomy: the better approach. Ann Thorac Surg 89(6):S2135–S2141
Meyer DM, Herbert MA, Sobhani NC, Tavakolian P, Duncan A, Bruns M, Korngut K, Williams J, Prince SL, Huber L, Wolfe GI, Mack MJ (2009) Comparative clinical outcomes of thymectomy for myasthenia gravis performed by extended transsternal and minimally invasive approaches. Ann Thorac Surg 87(2):385–390
Toolabi K, Aminian A, Javid MJ, Harirchian MH, Rabani A, Darabnia J (2009) Mid-term results of thoracoscopic thymectomy for myasthenia gravis. Neurol India 57(4):402–405
Ryniewicz B, Badurska B (1977) Follow-up study of myasthenic children after thymectomy. J Neurol 217:133–138
Loscertales J, Ayarra Jarne J, Congregado M, Arroyo Tristán A, Jiménez Merchán R, Girón Arjona JC, Linares CA (2004) Video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy for the treatment of myasthenia gravis. Arch Bronconeumol 40:409–413
Kumar A, Kumar S, Ghanta R, Singh S, Pawar DK, Kalara V (2002) Thoracoscopic thymectomy for juvenile myasthenia gravis. Indian Pediatr (12):1131–1137
Durkin ET, Shaaban AF (2008) Recent advances and controversies in pediatric laparoscopic surgery. Surg Clin N Am 88(5)
Tracy MM (2009) Graded response to thymectomy in children with myasthenia gravis. J Child Neurol 24(4):454–459
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Parikh, K., Vaidya, A. & Jain, R. Preliminary results of VATS thymectomy for pediatric myasthenia gravis. Pediatr Surg Int 27, 595–598 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-010-2838-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-010-2838-4