Descripción de las características clínicas y la respuesta a tratamiento en pacientes con miastenia grave sin timoma sometidos a timectomía en una institución de alta complejidad de Cali, Colombia, 2010-2017

Introduction: Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease with a worldwide prevalence of 150 to 250 cases per 1,000,000 inhabitants. The recommended treatment for myasthenia gravis without thymoma is total thymectomy, which is the only cure alternative. Methods: A descriptive and retrospective study of a series of cases of adult patients with myasthenia gravis without thymoma undergoing thymectomy was conducted during the period from 2010 to 2017. In the descriptive statistical analysis, absolute frequencies and percentages were used for the qualitative variables, and for the quantitative variables the median and the interquartile range were used. Results: Twenty-eight patients with myasthenia gravis without thymoma underwent thymectomy from 2010 to 2017. They were categorized according to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America post-intervention status classification, and it was found that four (14.3 %) patients had complete remission, and grade 3 of minimal clinical manifestations was the most frequent in 19 (67.9 %); 26 (92.9 %) had improvement with respect to the change of the clinical state, in two (7.1 %) no changes were documented and in no patient there was worsening, exacerbation or death secondary to the disease. Conclusion: Over seven years, 28 patients diagnosed with myasthenia gravis without thymoma underwent thymectomy. Approximately in 15 % of patients achieve complete remission, grade 3 of minimal manifestations was the most frequent and 93 % presented improvement in their clinical status.