The role of plasmapheresis in prevention of complications after thoracoscopic thymectomy in patients with myasthenia combined with thymic hyperplasia

Abstract

Surgical indications for thymectomy include thymus tumour of different genesis as well as myasthenia. Minimally invasive methods such as thorascopy and robot-assisted thymectomy have been widely used lately as well as standard surgical methods namely sternotomy and thoracotomy. Regardless the type of access in myasthenia patients specific crisis conditions of respiratory failure can appear in postoperative period that usually requires mechanical ventilation. This study was aimed to estimate the efficacy of pre- and postoperative plasmapheresis in prevention of specific myasthenia-associated complications.