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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 1999;15:861-863
© 1999 Elsevier Science NL

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Thymectomy in myasthenia gravis via video-assisted infra-mammary cosmetic incision

Istituto di Patologia Chirurgica,(Dir Prof. Aurelio Picciocchi), Divisionne Di Chirurgia Toracica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy

Received 22 September 1998; received in revised form 3 March 1999; accepted 17 March 1999.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-6-30154511; fax: +39-6-3051162
e-mail: alfcesario{at}yahoo.com

We describe the technique, the benefits and the drawbacks of an original video-assisted thymectomy (VAT), performed through an infra-mammary cosmetic incision and median sternotomy in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. This procedure is clinically valuable and cosmetically satisfactory so as to be very well accepted by patients, especially by young women. We report a review of 71 MG patients treated between 1993 and 1997. A clinical remission was obtained in 48 (80%) out of 60 patients who had been followed for at least 12 months from surgery. Fifty-three of these patients (93%) judged their cosmetic results to be excellent or good.

Key Words: Video-assisted thymectomy • Myasthenia Gravis • Infra-mammary cosmetic incision