Prognosis of thymectomy in myasthenia gravis patients with thymus hyperplasia

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the post-thymectomy prognosis in different conditions of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients with thymus hyperplasia. Materials and methods: Collecting medical record and carrying out the follow-up study of 123 myasthenia gravis patients with thymus hyperplasia who have underwent thymectomy during the period between 2003 and 2013. Dividing into different groups based on gender, age of onset, duration of disease and Myasthenia Gravis Association of America (MGFA) clinical classification to analyze different prognosis in different groups. Results: Complete stable remission (CSR) was achieved in 71 of 123 patients (59.5%). There is no gender-related difference in achieving CSR. Patients with early onset of MG (≤40 years old) or disease duration less than 12 months had significantly higher CSR rates than those with late onset of MG (>40 years old) or disease duration more than 12 months respectively, while no difference was found in remission rate between MGFA clinical classification I and MGFA II. Conclusion: Myasthenia gravis patients with thymus hyperplasia who had thymectomy are proved to possess greater chance of achieving CSR. The onset age of disease and duration are the prognostic factors.

Keywords:

• Myasthenia gravis
• thymus hyperplasia
• thymectomy
• complete stable remission

Acknowledgements

We thank all the patients who participated in this study, as well as the doctors and nurses of the Department of neurology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and Tongji Hospital, who provided assistance in this study.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

None.