title: The ageing and myasthenic thymus: a morphometric study validating a standard procedure in the histological workup of thymic specimens.
abstract: The thymus is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG). The 80% of MG patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor autoantibodies fall into three clinical subgroups: 1) thymoma; 2) early-onset MG (<age of 40; EOMG) and 3) late-onset (LOMG; onset after 40). Thymectomy is widely used in EOMG, but its benefits have not been established in randomized controlled trials. A multicenter international trial (MGTX) currently seeks to determine whether thymectomy reduces corticosteroid requirements, and to look for correlations with thymic histology. We here describe the validated, standardized histological workup and reporting system used in this trial.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Medical Center Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany. philipp.stroebel@path.ma.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ströbel
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moritz
authors.forename: Maria Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Willcox
authors.forename: Wen-Yu
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: Wilfred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nix
authors.forename: Berthold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schalke
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.forename: Hans-Konrad
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Müller-Hermelink
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jaretzki Iii
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Newsom-Davis
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marx
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D013934:Thymectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D013945:Thymoma / Q000473:pathology; D013949:Thymus Extracts / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D013949:Thymus Extracts