Long-term outcome and factors influencing the outcome of thymectomy for myasthenia gravis.

Thymectomy has gained widespread acceptance as a treatment for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Patients with myasthenia gravis who had undergone thymectomy by extended transsternal approach between 1981 and 1987 were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate the result of thymectomy, time to remission, time to maximum improvement and factors influencing remission after thymectomy. There were 128 patients, 45 men and 83 women and the mean ages at the time of thymectomy were 35.