A thymectomy before the generalisation of myasthenia would be preferable in certain patients

While there is still no consensus on the treatment of ocular myasthenia gravis, an Italian team conducted a retrospective study of 174 patients initially diagnosed with an ocular form of myasthenia gravis:

  • 112 underwent thymectomy at the ocular stage of myasthenia gravis, 62 at the generalised stage;
  • 29.3% had thymoma;
  • the stable complete remission rate was higher for patients operated on at the ocular stage (23.2%) than for patients operated on at the generalised stage (11.3%), with the difference still higher at 5 years in patients without thymoma.

For the authors, these results support early thymectomy in certain patients.

 

Thymectomy in Ocular Myasthenia Gravis: Results Before and After Generalization and Prognostic. Nachira D, Congedo MT, Kuzmych K et al. Predictors of Outcomes. J Clin Med. 2025 Nov 4;14(21):7840.