[Anesthesia in thymectomy. Experience with 115 cases].

The authors have conducted a retrospective study on 115 patients with myasthenia gravis undergoing transsternal or transcervical thymectomy at the Policlinico A. Gemelli of Rome in the period June 1984- to June 1991. A prolonged postoperative mechanical ventilation immediately and a few days following surgery was required respectively in 7 and 3 patients, while atelectasia and broncopneumonia have developed in 10 patients. No relationship could be established between the incidence of respiratory complications and factors such as preoperative symptomatology and treatment anesthetic agents, the surgical approach to the thymus and thymic pathology. However a significantly greater postoperative morbidity has been observed in the group of patients receiving suxametonium as compared to the patients receiving non-depolarizing muscle relaxants. Vecuronium and atracurium very frequently allowed ad adequate resumption of spontaneous respiration after anesthesia and made possible a safe early extubation of patients before leaving the operating room. The authors also stressed that all patients, irrespective of their clinical conditions, must be transferred after thymectomy. Oto the surgical ICU where anticholinesterase therapy can be safely restarted and cardiorespiratory status carefully monitored.