[Thymectomy in myasthenia gravis---experience with 173 surgical patients].

Over a 13-year period, 173 patients with myasthenia gravis--69 per cent men and 31 per cent women--undergo operative treatment in the clinic of thoracic surgery with oncology at the Military Medical Academy--Sofia. Most patients present generalized form of the disease. The operation consists in longitudinal sternotomy. In the last few years, a new approach to preoperative preparation and postoperative treatment of the patients is used. As the result of strict long-term postoperative monitoring, plasmapheresis application, immunomodulation and adequate intensive care, the rate of complications is greatly reduced with not a single fatal outcome being recorded.