A CASE OF MYASTHENIA GRAVIS ASSOCIATED WITH GRAVES' DISEASE TREATED BY SUBTOTAL THYROIDECTOMY AND ENDOSCOPIC THYMECTOMY SIMULTANEOUSLY

Abstract

The association of myasthenia gravis and Graves' disease is not infrequent. If a patient has these two diseases and requires surgical treatment, a two-stage operation consisting of subtotal thyroidectmy followed by thymectomy through median sternotomy has been the common surgical practice.
Recent advances in perioperative management allow us to perform simultaneous subtotal thyroidectmy and thymectomy. In additions endoscopic thymectomy is cosmetically preferable and less invasive than conventional procedures. We treated a 27-year-old woman patient who had myasthenia gravis and Graves' disease, performing a simultaneous subtotal thyroidectmy and endoscopic thymectomy. This simultaneous operation is the first case reported to our knowledge.