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Effectiveness of thymectomy in non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis: a systematic review

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Summary

There is continuous debate regarding the effectiveness of thymectomy in the treatment of non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis (MG). This systematic review was undertaken to determine whether thymectomy was effective in non-thymomatous MG. We retrieved articles published between January 1980 and September 2013. Sixteen cohort studies were included. Given the considerable heterogeneity, we used a descriptive method instead of statistical synthesis. The median relative rates (RRs) and their interquartile ranges were used to estimate the magnitude of benefit. Compared to conservatively treated MG patients, thymectomized patients had higher survival, clinical remission, pharmacologic remission and improvement rates, and RRs were 1.07 (1.01–1.17), 1.83 (0.82–2.99), 1.55 (1.22–1.95) and 1 (1.00–1.09), respectively. Subgroup analyses showed that patients with moderate to severe generalized MG benefited more from thymectomy, with RRs of survival and pharmacologic remission increasing to 1.35 (1.24–1.49) and 2.68 (1.73–4.17), respectively. These results suggested that thymectomy might be an effective procedure in non-thymomatous MG patients. The patients with moderate to severe generalized MG might benefit more. Taking into account the poor methodological quality of present studies, more well-designed prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are still required to reach unequivocal conclusion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Yan Luo  (罗 彦), Deng-ji Pan  (潘邓记), Fei-fei Chen  (陈菲菲), Ming-hui Zhu  (朱明辉), Jing Wang  (王 晶) & Min Zhang  (张 旻)

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  1. Yan Luo  (罗 彦)
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  2. Deng-ji Pan  (潘邓记)
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  3. Fei-fei Chen  (陈菲菲)
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  4. Ming-hui Zhu  (朱明辉)
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  5. Jing Wang  (王 晶)
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  6. Min Zhang  (张 旻)
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Correspondence to Min Zhang  (张 旻).

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The authors contributed equally to the work.

This project was supported by grants from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81271406 and 81000537) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (No. NCET-09-0394).

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Luo, Y., Pan, Dj., Chen, Ff. et al. Effectiveness of thymectomy in non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis: a systematic review. J. Huazhong Univ. Sci. Technol. [Med. Sci.] 34, 942–949 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-014-1378-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-014-1378-x

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