Influence factors for immediate outcome after thymectomy for patients with myasthenia gravis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the influence factors for immediate outcome after thymectomy for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Methods The clinical data of 108 patients with MG who received thymectomy in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2009 to July 2012 were retrospectively investigated, including gender, age, duration of disease, clinical classification, pathological classification of thymus and anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies (AChRab). The immediate outcome after thymectomy was also observed. Thirty-two cases of MG who had immediate outcome after thymectomy were enrolled into experimental group, while 76 cases who did not have immediate outcome after thymectomy were regarded as control group. Results The immediate outcome after thymectomy was associated with duration of disease (χ2=98.550, P<0.01), clinical classification (χ2=40.434, P<0.01), pathological classification of thymus (χ2=11.154, P=0.004) and AChRab (χ2=5.590, P=0.018). There were statistically significant differences between the two groups in the one-year (31.3% in the experimental group vs 14.5% in the control group, χ2=4.046, P=0.044), two-year (40.6% vs 21.1%, χ2=4.392, P=0.036) and three-year complete remission rates (46.9% vs 25.0%, χ2=4.995, P=0.025). Conclusion Duration of disease, clinical classification, pathological classification of thymus and AChRab could be influence factors for immediate outcome and complete remission for patients with MG after thymectomy. Key words: Myasthenia gravis; Thymectomy; Treatment outcome