title: Thymectomy for myasthenia gravis: video-assisted versus transsternal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Thymectomy may benefit patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (MG) or myasthenia with thymomas. Currently, video-assisted (VA) thoracic surgery is popular and plays an important role in thymectomy. We compared the clinical outcomes of VA thymectomy with conventional transsternal (TS) approach to investigate the effectiveness of VA technology in the current era.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of our thymectomy results for patients with MG from 1998 to 2011 was conducted. A total of 83 consecutive patients were enrolled. According to the surgeons' and patients' preference, 39 patients received conventional TS thymectomy and 44 were operated on in a VA fashion. The results were categorized and analyzed according to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) postintervention statuses with some modification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No obvious difference between conventional TS thymectomy and VA thymectomy was noted regarding the remission statuses and the clinical outcomes by the modified MGFA score. However, the patients who received VA thymectomy showed shorter intensive care unit (ICU) stays (4.2 ± 3.3 days vs. 2.3 ± 1.5 days, p = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with the conventional TS thymectomy, the VA approach is similarly effective with shorter ICU stays.
authors: Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Chien-Ming
authors: CM
authors: Lo
authors: Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Hung-I
authors: HI
authors: Lu
authors: Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Ming-Jang
authors: MJ
authors: Hsieh
authors: Division of Oncology, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Shao-Shuan
authors: SS
authors: Lee
authors: Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: c9112772@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
authors: Jen-Ping
authors: JP
authors: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000601:surgery*; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D056346:Sternotomy; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D013934:Thymectomy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: myasthenia gravis; thymectomy; video-assisted surgery