Extended transsternal thymectomy.

The two primary indications for thymectomy are the treatments of patients with thymoma and patients with myasthenia gravis. Several different methods have been described to remove the thymus gland, including transcervical-transsternal "maximal" thymectomy, extended transsternal thymectomy, classic transsternal thymectomy, (extended) transcervical thymectomy, and video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy. The purpose of this article is to focus on the technical aspects of performing an extended transsternal thymectomy and the published results of extended transsternal thymectomy as compared with other techniques available.