Objective: Effects of preoperative steroids on morbidity and mortality after transsternal thymectomy are analyzed. Methods: There were 620 transsternal thymectomies for myasthenia gravis performed in the period . There were 547 patients with nonthymomatous myasthenia, including 17 patients submitted to repeated thymectomy (rethymectomy) and 46 patients with thymoma. There were 522 upper median sternotomies performed in the period 1973 -1997 and 98 complete median sternotomies performed in the period 1998-2002 (74 patients without thymoma, 7 thymomas and 17 rethymectomies). One hundred and seventeen of these 620 patients were taking steroids preoperatively. The impact of steroids use on postoperative respiratory insufficiency (ventilator), need for tracheostomy, superficial wound dehiscence, superficial wound suppuration, sternal dehiscence and mortality was analyzed. Results: The rate of morbidity and mortality in the steroids and the no-steroids groups included respiratory insufficiency necessitating the use of a ventilator in 46/503 patients from the nosteroids group (9.1%) and 8/117 patients from the steroids group (6.8%; P ¼ 0:4260), need for tracheostomy in 14/503 patients from the nosteroids group (2.8%) and 3/117 patients from the steroids group (2.6%; P ¼ 0:9054). Complications with wound healing (including sternal dehiscence, superficial wound dehiscence and superficial wound suppuration) occurred in 47/503 (9.3%) patients from the no-steroids group and in 1/117 (0.9%) patient from the steroids group ðP ¼ 0:0023Þ: The overall complications rate was 30.6% (154/503) in the no-steroids group and 11.1% (13/117) in the steroids group ðP ¼ 0:0001Þ: Mortality rate in the no-steroids group was 0.4% (2/503 patients) and none in the steroids group. Morbidity in patients with complete sternotomy was low, respiratory insufficiency in three patients (3.1%), and superficial wound suppuration in one patient (1.0%), no other morbidity and no mortality. Changing morbidity in periods 1973-1980, 1981-1990 and 1991-2002 is analyzed. Conclusions: Preoperative use of steroids for transsternal thymectomy in patients with myasthenia gravis had no negative impact on morbidity and mortality, conversely, the results in patients taking steroids were better, with significant difference of results regarding the overall complication rates and the overall complication rates of wound healing. q

Background:The aim of this study is to present the new technique of transcervical-subxiphoid-videothoracoscopic “maximal”thymectomy introduced by the authors of this study for myasthenia gravis.Materials and Methods:Two hundred and sixteen patients with Osserman scores ranging from I–III were operated on from 1/9/2000 to 31/12/2006 for this study. The operation was performed through four incisions: a transverse 5–8 cm incision in the neck, a 4–6 cm subxiphoid incision and two 1 cm incisions for videothoracoscopic (VTS) ports. The cervical part of the procedure was performed with an open technique while the intrathoracic part was performed using a video assisted thoracoscopic surgical (VATS) technique. The whole thymus with the surrounding fatty tissue containing possible ectopic foci of the thymic tissue was removed. Such an operation can be performed by one surgical team (the one team approach) or by two teams working simultaneously (two team approach). The early and late results as well as the incidence and localization of ectopic thymic foci have been presented in this report.Results:There were 216 patients in this study of which 178 were women and 38 were men. The ages of the patients ranged from 11 to 69 years (mean 29.7 years). The duration of myasthenia was 2–180 months (mean 28.3 months). Osserman scores were in the range of I–III. Almost 27% of the patients were taking steroids or immunosuppressive drugs preoperatively. The mean operative time was 201.5 min (120–330 min) for a one-team approach and it was 146 (95–210 min) for a two-team approach (P < 0.05). While there was no postoperative mortality, the postoperative morbidity was 12%. The incidence of ectopic thymic foci was 68.4%. The rates of complete remission after one, two, three, four and five years of follow-up were 26.3, 36.5, 42.9, 46.8 and 50.2%, respectively.Conclusion:Transcervical-subxiphoid-VTS maximal thymectomy is a complete and highly effective treatment modality for myasthenia gravis. The need for sternotomy is avoided while the completeness of the operation is retained.

The aim of the study was to review the clinical characteristics of operated patients with respect to pulmonary sequestration and analyze diagnostic and therapeutic problems connected with this anomaly. Material and methods. We performed a retrospective analysis of 23 patients operated on because of pulmonary sequestration between 1963 and 2004 in the Departments of Thoracic Surgery in Zakopane (10 patients) and Szczecin-Zdunowo (13 patients). Results. The study group comprised 8 men and 15 women and the mean age was 28 years. 15 patients (65.2%) presented with clinical symptoms such as coughing, fever and chest pain. Preoperatively, pulmonary sequestration was suspected in 5 patients. Amongst the remaining patients, the preoperative diagnosis was lung cancer (9 patients), metastasis from testicular neoplasms (n=1), emphysematous bullae (n=2), pulmonary cyst (n=4), bronchiectasis (n=1) and lung abscess (n=1). None of the patients were subjected to arteriography and 6 patients underwent contrast-enhanced computer tomography examination, although it did not lead to a proper diagnosis. We found 20 intralobar sequestrations and 3 extralobar sequestrations, which were situated above the diaphragm. There were 11 sequestrations on the right side and 12 on the left side. The operations performed included: lobectomy (14 patients), segmentectomy 1+2 (n=1), wedge resection (n=3), sequestrectomy (n=3), lower bilobectomy (n=1), and middle lobectomy (n=1). Blood supply from the thoracic aorta was found in 17 patients and the abdominal aorta in the remaining 6 patients. In 5 patients, the pulmonary sequestration was supplied by more than one artery. Complications included hemorrhage from supplying arteries in 8 patients and phrenic nerve palsy in one patient. One patient required mechanical ventilation after the operation. There was no further morbidity and mortality. Distant surgical results were good. Conclusions. 1. Pulmonary sequestration in adults is difficult to diagnose before the operation, even with a detailed computer tomography examination. 2. Intralobar sequestration is much more common (87%) than extralobar and is often situated in the basal segments with comparable incidence on the right and left sides. 3. The greatest danger during the operation is major bleeding from the supplying artery. 4. Prognosis after the operation is favorable.

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