ABSTRACT
From June 2008 to December 2012,video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS group) was performed for 24 cases of thymoma.Their operative procedures,postoperative complications,remission of myasthenia gravis (MG),perioperative mortality and oncological outcomes were compared with 19 cases of trans-sternal open thymectomy (OT group).Compared with OT group,VATS group had significantly shorter operation duration,less blood loss,shorter postoperative hospital stay,shorter chest tube duration and less chest drainage amount (P ＜ 0.05).The total rate of postoperative complications of VATS group was 4％ (1/24) and it was less than OT group (4/19) without significant difference (P ＞0.05).The effective remission rate of thymomatous MG was 7/9 in VATS group and it was similar to that in OT group (6/8,P ＞ 0.05).VATS group had a recurrent or metastatic rate of 0％ (0/23) and it was better than OT group with 1/17.And there was no significant inter-group difference (P ＞ 0.05).The total survival rate of VATS group was 100％ and it was similar to that of OT group (16/17,P ＞ 0.05).Thoracoscopic thymectomy is safe,feasible,efficacious and mini-invasive for thymoma.With fewer complications and a quicker recovery,it has similar short-term outcomes to conventional open thymectomy.