Surgical Approaches

Fri, 15 Dec 2023

The Thymus gland is centrally located in the upper body and especially its nearness to the heart, the thymus presents specific challenges for surgery. In fact, there are occasions when the thymus may be removed simply to provide unobstructed access to certain segments of the heart during cardiac surgery.

There are three standard surgical approaches to the thymus:

• Transsternal Approach (Conventional Open) which involves cutting through the sternum or breast bone. Sometimes referred to as cracking the chest, which is essentially the same approach used for open heart surgery.
• Transcervical ApproachTranscervical Approach which approaches the thymus from above through a small neck incision.
• Transthoracic, (Minimally Invasive Thymectomy /VATS Thymectomy/ Thoracoscopic Thymectomy) which approaches the thymus through multiple small incisions on one or both sides of the chest.

In VATS (Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery) Thymectomy, a video camera is used to see the surgical field, in this case the thymus and surrounding tissue. This type of procedure generally uses small incisions in the chest for the camera, surgical instruments. The approach is sometimes called Minimally Invasive Thymectomy.