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A. Masaoka, Y. Yamakawa, H. Niwa, I. Fukai, S. Kondo, M. Kobayashi, Y. Fujii and Y. Monden, “Extended Thymectomy for Myasthenia Gravis Patients: A 20-Year Review,” Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol. 62, No. 3, 1996, pp. 853-859. doi:10.1016/S0003-4975(96)00376-1

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Robotic–Assisted Thymectomy in Patients with Nonthymomatous Myasthenia Gravis

  AUTHORS: Iskander Al-Githmi

  KEYWORDS: Myasthenia Gravis, Nonthymoma, Robot, Thymectomy

  JOURNAL NAME: Surgical Science, Vol.2 No.7, September 30, 2011

  ABSTRACT: Complete removal of the thymus and fatty tissue adherent to pericardium is crucial for treating myasthenia gravis. Our aim was to analyze our surgical and clinical results and early experience of robot-assisted thy-mectomy in patients with nonthymomatous myasthenia gravis. Between January 2008 and October 2010, 8 patients, all women, with nonthymomatous myasthenia gravis underwent robot-assisted thymectomy using a 3-port, left-sided approach. There were no operative mortality; 1 patient had left phrenic nerve injury. Com-plete remission was achieved in 25% of the patients at 18 months’ follow-up. There was no significant agreement between preoperative computed tomography and histopathology finding (kappa = 0.059; P = 0.85) and no significant correlation between age and duration of symptoms (P = 0.51). Robotic-assisted thymec-tomy is promising procedure. It can be performed safely and effectively. With follow-up greater than 12 months, 87.5% of the patients who underwent robot-assisted thymectomy demonstrated clinical improve-ment.