Surgical treatment is effective in treating thymoma accompanied with non-myasthenia gravis autoimmune diseases: a single-center clinical experience.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Although thymoma is inextricably linked to autoimmune disease, its best treatment method remains unclear. In this study, we sought to evaluate therapeutic effect of surgical resection of thymoma on non-myasthenia gravis autoimmune diseases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a retrospective study covering 32 patients with thymoma accompanied with non-myasthenia gravis autoimmune disease. The relationships between surgical treatment, thymoma pathological type, and prognosis of autoimmune diseases were analyzed from postoperative follow-up data.

RESULTS

In total, 32 patients in this study underwent surgical treatment. The mean age of the patients was 51.7 years. By the last follow-up, 2 patients had died, while the other 30 patients showed no sign of tumor recurrence and metastasis. According to the postoperative follow-up data, 22 patients (68.75%) showed improvement or even complete recovery of autoimmune disease symptoms, 9 patients (28.13%) showed no significant change, and only 1 patient's (3.12%) postoperative symptom was aggravated. Female patients and patients aged 50 and older were more likely to combine with non-organ-specific autoimmune diseases (p = 0.036, p = 0.017).

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, this study presents that surgical treatment achieves a satisfactory prognosis for thymoma combined with non-myasthenia gravis autoimmune disease.