Outcomes of Extended Thymectomy in Myasthenic and Non-Myasthenic Thymus Tumors

Abstract

Aim: We retrospectively reviewed the results of patients who underwent extended thymectomy for thymic malignancy and planned to demonstrate the therapeutic effect of surgical treatment in patients with thymus tumors. Material and Method: The results of 29 patients with thymic malignancy who underwent consecutively expanded thymectomy between October 2012 and January 2018 in our clinic were examined in detail. Preoperative, postoperative and postoperative follow-up parameters of the cases were recorded. Results: 13 of the patients were male and 16 were female. The mean age was calculated as 41.4±17.7 (range 9–75 years). Nine of the cases (31%) were accompanied by myasthenia graves (MG) disease. Mean FEV1 was 2678.17±954.5 ml and mean FEV1 was calculated as 94±19.8 ml. Thymectomy was performed with sternotomy in 20 patients and thoracoscopic thymectomy was performed in 9 patients. The mean duration of operation was 137.9±31.8 minutes (133.1±45.5 minutes in thoracoscopy group, 134.1±26.5 minutes in sternotomy group), mean perioperative bleeding was 116.6±107 ml, postoperative drainage amount was 417.3±339.9 ml and duration of drainage was 2.6±0.89 days. Complication rate was found to be 13.7% while mortality was not observed. When the postoperative pain scores of the patients were evaluated, the first 24 hour visual analogue pain score (VAS) averaged 3.4, 24–48 hours 2.71 and 48–72 hours 1.9. Mean hospital stay was 4.3±2.5 days and mean follow-up was 34.7 months (1.5–124 months). Recurrence was developed only in one patient with type B2 thymoma and a myasthenic crisis was observed in one patient, on the 10th postoperative day. While no tumor metastasis was observed in any patient during the follow-up, the mean disease-free survival was 34.9 months. Conclusion: Extended thymectomy can be safely performed with low morbidity and mortality using transsternal or thoracoscopic approach in myasthenic and non-myasthenic thymus tumors.