During a ten-year period at our department eight reoperations were made in patients who had a thymoma removed at another department of thoracotomy. All patients developed after some time myasthenia gravis.
In three patients on reoperation a relapse of thymoma was observed. The author's experience indicates that tumours of thymus must be operated from sternotomy to have the possibility to remove not only the tumour but all thymus tissue incl. the contralateral lobe and mediastinal adipose tissue.