Abstract
Background: Thymoma occurs in approximately 10% of myasthnia gravis patients. The thymus or a thymoma plays a role in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis. However, there is currently no definitive position about the effect of thymectomy on patients' symptoms and prognosis. We retrospectively studied the effect of thymoma on re-mission in patients who underwent thymectomy for myasthenia gravis. Material and Method: From July, 1992 to December, 2002, we performed extended thymectomy due to myasthenia gravis for 100 patients. The thymoma group included 30 people, the non-thymoma group included 70 people and the change of the Ossermann stage between the two groups after surgery was compared. Result: For the non-thymoma group, the average age was 34.7 years (range: $12.7{\sim}47.7$). Before the surgical operation, the Ossermann stage for the non-thymoma group was an average of 3.00, and this was reduced to an average of 1.41 after operation. For the thymoma group, the average age was 50.9 years (range: $37.3{\sim}64.5$). Before the surgical operation, the Ossermann stage for the thymoma group was an average of 3.00, and this was reduced to an average of 1.47 after operation. The non-thymoma patients had a higher proportion of males than the thymoma patients (35% vs 30%, respectively), The Masaoka stage was stage of the thymoma group was I for 27 patients and stage II for 3 patients. There was no statistically significant Ossermann stage change between the thymoma and non-thymoma groups. Conclusion: Whether thymoma was present or not, there was no significant difference on remission and improvement of myasthenia symptoms after thymectomy in the myasthenia gravis patients.
배경: 중증근무력증 환자의 약 10% 정도에서 흉선종이 동반된다. 흉선과 흉선종은 중증근무력증의 병태생리에 의미 있는 역할을 한다. 그러나 흉선 절제술 후 환자의 증상과 예후에 흉선종이 미치는 영향에 대해 아직 정립되어 있지 않은 실정이다. 흉선종이 중증근무력증 환자의 증상 관해에 미치는 영향에 대해 후향적으로 연구하였다. 대상 및 방법: 1992년 7월부터 2002년 12월까지 중증근무력증으로 확대 흉선절제술을 시행받은 100명의 환자를 대상으로 하였다. 흉선종군은 30명, 비흉선종군은 70명이었고, 두 군간의 수술 전후 Ossermann병기 변화를 비교하였다. 결과: 비흉선종군은 평균 나이가 34.7 ($12.7{\sim}47.7$)세였다. 그리고, 수술 전 Ossermann 병기는 평균 3.06이었고, 수술 우 평균 1.41로 감소하였다 흉선종군은 평균 나이가 50.9 ($37.3{\sim}64.5$)세였다. 그리고, 수술 전 Ossermann 병기는 평균 3.00이었고, 수술 후 평균 1.47로 감소하였다. 남자의 비율은 흉선종군보다 비흉선종군에서 더 높았다(35% vs 30%). 흉선종의 Masaoka 병기는 1기가 27명, 2기가 3명이었다. 흉선종군과 비 흉선종군 간의 Ossermann 병기 변화는 통계적으로 차이가 없었다(p=0.09). 결론: 흉선종의 유무는 흉선제거술을 시행받은 중증근무력증 증상의 관해나 호전에 영향이 없었다.
