Abstract
It is now well known and accepted that the thymus plays a central role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune nonthymomatous and thymomatous myasthenia gravis (MG) [1–5]. While in case of a thymoma oncological reasons make surgery mandatory and the sternotomy route is the golden standard, on the other hand the presence of a radiologically “normal” thymus makes the choices of the thymectomy and of its surgical approach more controversial [6–12]. From retrospective studies it is quite evident that all thymectomies are not equal both in extent of thymic tissue removed and in neurological results [5]. Briefly it can be stated that the more complete the thymectomy the better the results [5]; on the contrary, it is sufficient to leave behind 2 g of residual thymus to reduce the therapeutic value of the thymectomy and produce a lower remission rate [13].
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Mussi, A., Lucchi, M. (2008). Conventional Techniques: Median Sternotomy. In: Lavini, C., Moran, C.A., Morandi, U., Schoenhuber, R. (eds) Thymus Gland Pathology. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-0828-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-0828-1_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Milano
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