[Thymectomy in myasthenia gravis (author's transl)].

10 myasthenia patients were treated surgically during a four year period, 1970 TO 1973. Thymectomy was only resorted to in the most severe cases of the disease. A sternum splitting incision was preferred. Postoperative diffculties were usually avoided by routine use of a volume-controlled respirator. Oro-tracheal intubation was preferred to tracheostomy in order to avoid infection. In 9 patients it was possible to reduce the daily dose of medicine. Clinical improvement, sometimes delayed, occurred in 8 patients. All the patients had been incapacitated preoperatively but in 6 cases they were able to return to work. The mortality rate was nil. There was one case of postoperative pneumonia and one delayed sternal union.