title: Thymic pathological examination of non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis patients: A pilot study for prediction of outcome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by weakness and fatigability of skeletal muscles. The aim of this study was to determine if pathological characteristics in non-thymomatous patients of MG would correlate with prognosis in a three year follow up.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who had had their thymectomy at least three years prior to the study were selected from three hospitals and were followed for 3 years. Prognosis was assessed via a devised prognostic scoring system. A pathological exam of the specimen from the thymus was done using the following immunohistochemical markers: Bcl2, CD 3, CD 4, CD 5, CD 7, CD 10, CD 20cy, CD 23, CD 43, and Ki67.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and had a complete follow-up. This included 3 males and 12 females with a mean age of 36.6 years at the start of the study. The dominant cell population was T lymphocytes. All T cells expressed CD 3, CD 43, CD 5, and Bcl-2. In 2 patients, CD 10 marker was positive in T cells. B cells were negative for activation marker CD 23, except for germinal center dendritic cells. Due to the limited number of patients in the study, the power of the study would not allow for an analysis to assess correlation between histopathological data and prognosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This pilot study was an attempt to discover any prognostic indices from the histopathological examination of the resected thymic tissue in the patients with myasthenia gravis.
authors.affiliation: Student Research Comittee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Zeinab
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Peimani
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Amin
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Banihashemi
authors.affiliation: Student Research Comittee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Niloofar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Namazi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Kazeroon Branch, Kazeroon, Iran.
authors.forename: Anahid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Safari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monabati
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Dena Hospital, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mojallal
authors.affiliation: Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran ; Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borhani-Haghighi
keywords: Antigens; Bcl-2-Associated X Protein; CD; Immunohistochemistry; Ki-67 Antigen; Myasthenia Gravis