Miasthenia

BACKGROUND: Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has significantly developed over the last decade. However, a VATS approach for thymoma remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of VATS thymectomy for the treatment of early-stage thymoma and to compare the outcomes with open resection. METHODS: A comparative study of 59 patients who underwent surgical resection for early stage thymoma (VATS: 44 and open resection: 15) between 1993 and 2011 was performed...

Atopy, immunodeficiency and autoimmunity are manifestations of immune system dysfunction. Classically atopy and autoimmunity are referred as distinct immunological reactions. Recent studies suggest the existence of common pathogenic mechanisms. We report the case of a teenager with familial history of asthma and miasthenia gravis in her mother (HLA- B8+) and personal history of recurrent upper respiratory infections from two to four years old, and pneumonia since five years old (3 or 4 episodes/ year, in three consecutive years), with associated dyspnoea and hypoxemia, requiring frequently hospital admission...

Permanent tracheotomy was the first surgical procedure proposed for the treatment of severe obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and is still the only surgical option that ensures, even in very severe cases, complete elimination of apnoea and, in turn, clinical remission. Improved knowledge of the causes of obstructive sleep apnoea syndromes and the increasing therapeutic options (instrumental, medical and surgical) have resulted in cases requiring tracheotomy as the only indispensable therapeutic option becoming more rare...

Twenty one patients aged from 10 to 31 years were subjected to thymectomy by a jugular access without any complications and lethal issues. Principal indications and contraindications to using a jugular access for thymectomy are discussed, technical features of the operative procedure are described in detail. It is the authors' opinion that the proper selection of patients might allow the performance of radical thymectomy within anatomical boundaries. Thymectomy using a jugular approach is characterized by an insignificant trauma, more smooth postoperative period, and therefore, it could be recommended in some patients with most grave forms of miasthenia...

The authors have analysed the data of clinical and pathoanatomical (biopsy) investigations in 41 patients, operated upon for the true tumor of the thymus (thymoma) without any signs of malignant miasthenia. Based on the literature materials and personal observations, it is considered necessary to provide for a rational clinico-anatomical classification of thymomas, which may allow certain prognostication of the results of surgical treatment. An attempt is made to work out a preliminary uniform working scheme of the histological nomenclature for thymomas...