• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1010-1016
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• 1996

Thymectomy is an accepted therapeutic modality for patients with myasthenia gravis. The selection of patients for operation, the timing of operation and the surgical approach are still controversial. We reviewed 82 patientsraged 13 to 66 years; mean age, 37.7 years treated with transsternal thymectomy between January 1983 and December 1994. Patients were symptomatically staged according to the modified Osserman's classification. There was one hospital death and postoperative follow-up was obtained on 75 patients. During a mean follow up of 56.9 months, 64 patients (85.3%) benefited from the operation with complete remis ion achieved in 28(37.3%). The thyroid disease was present in 8 patients, of whom 7(87. 5%) achieved complete remission in contrast to 21 (31.3%) of the 67 patients without thyroid disease. The disease duration less than 2 years in 32 patients was associated with complete remission in 16 (50%) in contrast to remission in 12(27.4%) of the 43 patients whose disease duration was more than 2 years. In conclusion, the complete remission rate after transsternal thymectomy was affected by the presence of thyroid disease and disease duration. Myasthenia gravis with late onset(>40 years), thymoma pathology, old age and male gender appear to decrease the complete remission rate after transsternal thymectomy, although it was not statistically significant. There was no difference of complete'remission rate between normal and hyperplasia of thymus. Transsternal thymectomy was found to be beneficial in most patients with myasthenia gravis, but the majority of patients with ocular disease did not b nefit from the operation.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.277-286
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• 2001

Background: This study was undertaken to evaluate the diagnostic sensitivity of several muscles in repetitive nerve stimulation test (RNST) for myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 39 MG patients classified by modified Ossermann's classification. Using Stalberg's method, RNST was systematically performed in facial (orbicularis oculi and nasalis) and upper extremity (flexor carpi ulnaris, abductor digiti quinti and anconeus) muscles. Results: The significant electrodecremental response of RNST were noted in orbicularis oculi(58.9%), nasalis (51.3%), flexor carpi ulnaris(42%), anconeus(41%) and abductor digiti quinti muscles(27%). Among the 3 muscles of upper extremity(abductor digiti quinti, flexor carpi ulnaris and anconeus), the positive electrodecremental response of anconeus muscles was significantly higher than other two muscles(p<0.05) in type IIa, IIb and there were no statistical differences of the positive electrodecremental response between orbicularis oculi and nasalis muscles. The facial muscles showed more prominent decremental responses than upper extremity muscles in type I MG(p<0.05). In type IIa MG patients, there were no significant statistical differences between facial and upper extremity muscles but significant statistical differences among upper extremity muscles. In type IIb MG patients, there were no significant statistical differences in all tested muscles in spite of the increased positive electrodecremental response of RNST. Conclusion: On the basis of this study, RNST would be initially performed for the orbicularis or nasalis in type I MG and for the anconeus in type IIa or IIb MG.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2003

Myasthenia gravis is a rare autoimmune disease involving acetylcholine receptor and its autoantibody on neuromuscular junction. The methods of treatment are medical treatment and surgical thymectomy. In this paper we analyzed the result of thymectomy and the factors affecting the postoperative symptom improvement. Material and method : This study obtained medical records of 37 patients who received the thymectomy for myasthenia gravis from March 1986 to December 1998. Result Out of 37 cases, 21 cases(57%) showed improvement, of which 8 cases (50%) in the group of thymoma(n=16), and 13 cases (62%) in the group of thymic hyperplasia(n=21) showed the improvement of symptoms. Postoperative complications were respiratory insufficiency due to aggravation of symptoms after operation, including tracheal intubation for ventilator support in 9 cases, pneumonia in 3 cases, pneumothorax in 2 cases and left vocal cord palsy in 1 case. There was one postoperative mortality. The relation between postoperative improvement and sex(P=0.3222), age(P=0.7642), thymic pathologic variants,(P=0.4335) and classification of thymoma(P=0.20) showed no statistically significant correlation. However, the lower grade of preoperative symptoms can predict the lower grade of postoperative symptoms significantly(P=0.0032). Follow up study to 36 postoperative survivors was performed in October 2002 based on the out-patient records and call with patients. Out of 36 cases, 33 cases(91.7%) could be investigated and 3 cases could not. Mean follow up period was 83.2 months. Out of 33 cases, 25 cases(75.8%) showed symptomatic improvement, of which 8 cases(53.3%) in the group of thymoma(n=15) and 17 cases(94.4%) in the group of thymic hyperplasia(n=18) showed the improvement of$\boxUl$ symptoms. Conclusion : In myasthenia gravis, thymectomy showed the good improvement, and more important factor affecting the improvement of symptoms was the grdae of preoperative symptoms. Also midterm and long term follow up results showed good symptomatic improvement.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.557-561
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• 2010

In the treatment of myasthenia gravis, thymectomy is generally accepted as the standard of therapy. For thymectomy, there have been various conventional open approaches including sternal splitting, but recently minimally invasive approaches have been increasingly applied. A 28-year-old man presenting with weakness of both hands and fatigability was diagnosed as having myasthenia gravis with thymic hyperplasia. He underwent a robot-assisted thymectomy with the 'da Vinci' surgical system. Through the right thoracic cavity, two thirds of the thymic gland was dissected, and the remainder was resected through the left; these procedures took, respectively, 1 hour and 30 minutes. The patient was discharged on the 8th postoperative day without complications. The minimally invasive approach with the 'da Vinci' surgical system is emerging as a popular choice and various advantages have been reported. Here we report the first successful case of robot-assisted thymectomy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.427-432
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• 1996

Eighteen patients operated on for thymoma from 1985 to 1994 were evaluated, 3 with myasthenia gravis and 15 without. Masaoka's clinical staging revealed stage I disease in 5(27.8%), stage ll in 6 (33.3%), stage 111 in 6(33.3%), and stage IV in 1 (5.6%). Of the 18 patients, 10 had surgical resection as the only treatment and the remaining 8 (stage II : 1 patient, stage III : 6 patients, stage IV: 1 patient) had surgical resection with adjuvant preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy There was no operative mortality. Currently, 15 patients are alive, 3 are dead. The mean follow up time for all patients was 3.4 years. Acturlal survival at 5 years was 82.2 $\pm$ 9% for all patients' 100% for those in stage I and II, and 62.5% for those in stage III. Pleural and mediastinal recurrence developed in one patient in stage II which was considered to have noninvasive disease on the operating field. Two patients underwent reoperation for recurrence of thymoma a intervals of 14 months and 52 months. Clinical stage and resectability had a significant prognostic value(p < 0.05). The presence of myasthenia gravis is no longer considered as an adverse factor in survival.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-37
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• 2015

• CELLMED
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.78.1-78.5
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• 2024

Objective: Improvement of myasthenia gravis through Ortho-Cellular Nutrition Therapy (OCNT). Methods: A 52-year-old patient with myasthenia gravis was prescribed 21 different OCNT treatments, including Cyaplex. Results: Following the administration of OCNT, symptoms such as eyelid ptosis, masticatory dysfunction, diplopia, and fatigue showed improvement. Conclusion: OCNT can assist in alleviating and mitigating symptoms for patients suffering from thymoma and myasthenia gravis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 1996

From June 1989 to May 1994, 23 patients with myasthenia gravis underwent thymectomy in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Asan Medical Center. For the evaluation of the effect of thymectomy, clinical analysis including age and sex distribution, preoperative disease severity, duration of the symptoms, thymic pathology, and postoperative clinical improvement was performed. The mean follow-up period was 15 mon hs(range : 5∼60mon1hs). The effectiveness of thymectomy according to the postoperative symptoms and drug dose was graded as follow : a) complete remission in 5 cases (21.7%), b) clinical improvement with dose reduction in II cases (47.9%), c) clinical improvement without dose reduction in 3 cases(13.0%), 4) unchanged in 2 cases (8.8%), e) early death in 1 case(4.3%) and f) recurrence in 1 case(4.3%). According to the preoperative disease stage by Modified Osserman classification, 6(66.7%) of the 9 patients in stage I and 13 (92.9%) of 14 patients in stage II were clinically improved after thymectomy. although there was no significant statistical differences between these two groups (p> 0.05). According to the thymic pathology, 4 (100%) of 4 cases with normal thymus were clinically improved. Ten (90.9%) of 11 cases with thymic hyperplasia and 5 (62.5%) of 8 cases with thymoma were clinically improved, but there was no significant statistical differences in these three groups (p> 0.05 . The thymectomy resulted in dramatic clinical improvement in 19 (82.5%) out of 23 patients. According to the preoperative disease stage by Modified Osserman classification or the thymic pathology, there was no significant statistical differeneces in the effect of thyinectomy (p> 0.05).

• Proceedings of the KTCVS Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.92-92
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• 1998

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.589-592
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• 1996

We report two cases of the thoracoscopic thymectomies for patients of myasthenia gratis with tracheostomy (Osserman's Group-ll-C-1). The Irst case was 47-year-old male wlth generalized myas- thenia gravis who was under the mechani al ventilator therapy with tracheostomy. The second case was 60-year-old male with deteriorating generalized myasthenia gratis after the mechanical ventilator therapy. We decided to resect the thymus by vldeo-assisted thoracoscopy to prevent the ouurrence of postoperative complications, especially mediastinitis because all two cases were under tracheostomy state. We could stop the mechanical ventilator therapy on the postoperati'fe 16th day and 3rd day respect- ively and they were recovered without mediastinitis. So we concluded that video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy is a good alternative surgical method for myasthenia gratis patients with tracheostomy.