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Solli. Mini-invasive Surg 2019;3:28 Mini-invasive Surgery
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1225.2019.37

Preface Open Access

Preface to special issue on “Minimally Invasive
Surgery of the Thymus Gland”

Piergiorgio Solli

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ospedale Maggiore Largo Nigrisoli, Bologna 2 - 40133, Italy.
Correspondence to: Dott. Piergiorgio Solli, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ospedale Maggiore Largo Nigrisoli, Bologna 2 -
40133, Italy. E-mail: piergiorgio.solli@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Solli P. Preface to special issue on “Minimally Invasive Surgery of the Thymus Gland”. Mini-invasive Surg
2019;3:28. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1225.2019.37

Received: 23 Sep 2019 Accepted: 24 Sep 2019 Published: 30 Sep 2019
Science Editor: Giulio Belli Copy Editor: Jia-Jia Meng Production Editor: Jing Yu

I am thrilled to introduce this Minimally Invasive Surgery Journal special issue dedicated to surgery of the
thymus gland.

[1]
The recently published international MGTX trial has confirmed the effectiveness of thymectomy in
myasthenia gravis and although many unanswered questions still remain in the treatment of these patients,
the positive results of the trial combined with a variety of available minimally invasive surgical techniques
today available, could potentially lead to a much wider acceptance and utilization of thymectomy.

This issue is intended to offer an up-to date review of the several available technical surgical options and
cover details of minimally invasive surgical approaches, presented by champions of those techniques,
offering valuable lessons and practical tricks for experienced surgeons.

We are aware that the optimal surgical approach is only a part of the whole pathway for these patients,
in fact only ongoing and future trials leaded by next generation of surgeons potentially will clarify the
immunologic role of the thymus, the best medical strategy to myasthenic patients and eventually the best
surgical approach to these patients. Nevertheless surgeons must be fully conscious of current concepts and
focused on clear definitions that should be shared among our community, in order to effectively integrate
our treatment in a multidisciplinary approach.

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
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