PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alqarni, Fatmah
AU  - Almalki, Daifallah
AU  - Aljohani, Ziyad
AU  - Ali, Abdulrahman
AU  - AlSaleem, Alanood
AU  - Alotaibi, Noura
AU  - Odeh, Shahla
AU  - Dalbhi, Sultan Al
TI  - Prevalence and risk factors of myasthenia gravis recurrence post-thymectomy
AID  - 10.17712/nsj.2021.1.20190041
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - Neurosciences Journal
PG  - 4--14
VI  - 26
IP  - 1
4099  - http://nsj.org.sa/content/26/1/4.short
4100  - http://nsj.org.sa/content/26/1/4.full
SO  - Neurosciences (Riyadh)2021 Jan 01; 26
AB  - Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence and the factors associated with recurrence of myasthenia gravis following thymectomy.Methods: Six electronic databases which reported on recurrence of myasthenia gravis following thymectomy and/or its risk factors from 1985 to 2018 were searched. Summary prevalence and risk values obtained based on the random effect models were reported.Results: Seventy (70) papers containing 7,287 individuals with myasthenia gravis who received thymectomy as part of their management were retrieved. The patients had a mean follow-up of 4.65 years post-thymectomy. The prevalence of myasthenia gravis recurrence post-thymectomy was 18.0% (95% CI 14.7–22.0%; 1865/7287). Evident heterogeneity was observed (I2=93.6%; p<0.001). Recurrence rate was insignificantly higher in male compared with female patients (31.3 vs. 23.8%; p=0.104). Pooled recurrence rates for thymomatous (33.3%) was higher than the rate among non-thymomatous (20.8%) myasthenia gravis patients (Q=4.19, p=0.041). Risk factors for recurrence include older age, male sex, disease severity, having thymomatous myasthenia gravis, longer duration of the myasthenia gravis before surgery, and having an ectopic thymic tissue.Conclusion: A fifth of individuals with myasthenia gravis experience recurrence after thymectomy. Closer monitoring should be given to at-risk patients and further studies are needed to understand interventions to address these risks.