Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Role Of Thymectomy In Myasthenia Gravis, Sohaila Mohsin Ali, Aziz Sonawalla, Irfan Altafullah, Hizbullah Sheikh

Section of Urology

Thirteen patients with myasthenia gravis underwent total thymectomy between January, 1988 and December, 1991. The duration of symptoms prior to surgery varied from 2 months to 20 years. In a follow-up ranging from 2 months to 4 years, 11 patients showed a significant improvement with either complete discontinuation of medication of a marked reduction in doses. One patient with a small benign thymoma showed some improvement but subsequently required stepping up of anticholinesterase medication and addition of steroids and immune suppressants; another patient with atrophic thymic tissue had complete remission after thymectomy but developed myasthenic symptoms six months later requiring …