Table 1. Study characteristics and demographic information.
| Studies | Year | Study population | Minimally invasive approach [%] | Case number, n |
Mean age, years |
Male gender [%] |
Presence of MG, n [%] |
Presence of thymoma, n [%] |
Mean thymoma diameter, mm |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIT | OT | MIT | OT | MIT | OT | MIT | OT | MIT | OT | MIT | OT | |||||||||
| Mineo | 2015 | nonthymomatous MG | VATS: right, 15 [32] or left, 32 [68] |
47 | 194 | 37 | – | 34 | – | 47 [100] | 194 [100] | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | – | – | |||||
| Gu | 2015 | c-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | VATS: right or left | 49 | 44 | 51.3 | 50.9 | 57 | 52 | 4 [8] | 5 [11] | 49 [100] | 44 [100] | 43# | 54# | |||||
| Chen | 2014 | nonthymomatous MG | VATS: right, 54 [100] | 54 | 73 | 20.5 | 25.5 | 60 | 52 | 54 [100] | 73 [100] | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | – | – | |||||
| Ye | 2014 | p-Masaoka stage I,II thymoma | VATS: right, 90 [72] or left 35 [28] | 125 | 137 | 51.9 | 50.0 | 52 | 54 | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 125 [100] | 137 [100] | 32 | 34 | |||||
| Ye | 2014 | p-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | R-VATS: right, 15 [65] or left, 8 [35] | 23 | 51 | 52.5 | 50.1 | 52 | 61 | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 23 [100] | 51 [100] | 30 | 33 | |||||
| Seong | 2014 | anterior mediastinal mass | R-VATS- right, left or bilateral | 34 | 34 | 53.7 | 52.4 | 44 | 52 | 2 [6] | 1 [3] | 11 [32] | 13 [38] | 29 | 31 | |||||
| Manoly | 2014 | p-Masaoka stage I, II, III thymoma | VATS: right or left | 17 | 22 | 63.1 | 65.4 | 35 | 59 | 8 [47] | 4 [18] | 17 [100] | 22 [100] | – | – | |||||
| Liu | 2014 | p-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | VATS: right, left, or bilateral | 76 | 44 | 50.5 | 51.8 | 46 | 41 | 35 [46] | 14 [32] | 76 [100] | 44 [100] | 46# | 61# | |||||
| Kimura | 2013 | c-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | VATS: side not indicated | 45 | 29 | 55 | 57 | 42 | 34 | 14 [31] | 9 [31] | 45 [100] | 29 [100] | 48# | 65# | |||||
| He | 2013 | MG + p-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | VATS: right, 15 [100] | 15 | 18 | 54.2 | 48.6 | 47 | 61 | 15 [100] | 18 [100] | 15 [100] | 18 [100] | – | – | |||||
| Weksler | 2012 | all thymectomy procedures | R-VATS: right, 13 [87] or left, 2 [13] | 15 | 35 | 56.8 | 50.7 | 47 | 51 | 5 [33] | 6 [17] | 10 [67] | 14 [40] | 45 | 44 | |||||
| Jurado | 2012 | all thymectomy procedures | R-VATS, 2 [3] or VATS, 75 [97]: right, 2 [3] or bilateral 75 [97] | 77 | 186 | 46*# | 52*# | 31 | 37 | 43 [56] | 96 [52] | 10 [13] | 62 [33] | 45* | 65* | |||||
| Chung | 2012 | thymoma (excluding WHO B3 and C subtypes) | VATS: right, 16 [64] or left, 9 [36] | 25 | 45 | 45.8 | 51.7 | 52 | 47 | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 25 [100] | 45 [100] | 52# | 77# | |||||
| Pennathur | 2011 | c-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | VATS: right, left, or bilateral | 18 | 22 | 64* | 64* | 56 | 41 | 7 [39] | 4 [18] | 18 [100] | 22 [100] | 36*# | 61*# | |||||
| Lee | 2011 | MG | VATS: bilateral, 55 [100] | 55 | 59 | 35.6 | 37.4 | 18 | 29 | 55 [100] | 59 [100] | 11 [20]# | 25 [42]# | – | – | |||||
| Huang | 2011 | MG | VATS – right, 33 [100] | 33 | 66 | 36.5 | 37.3 | 27 | 30 | 33 [100] | 66 [100] | 2 [6] | 6 [9] | – | – | |||||
| Odaka | 2010 | p-Masaoka stage I, II thymoma | VATS: right, 16 [73] or left, 6 [27] | 22 | 18 | 51.9 | 51.1 | 64 | 39 | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 22 [100] | 18 [100] | 44 | 50 | |||||
| Lin | 2010 | nonthymomatous MG | VATS: right, 38 [100] | 38 | 22 | 33.1 | 30.4 | 26 | 32 | 38 [100] | 22 [100] | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | – | – | |||||
| Meyer | 2009 | MG | VATS: right, 48 [100] | 48 | 47 | 39.8 | 34.4 | 48 | 33 | 48 [100] | 47 [100] | 4 [8] | 6 [13] | – | – | |||||
| Bachmann | 2008 | MG (Osserman 2-4) | VATS: side not specified | 22 | 84 | Combined: 38.2* | 27 | 33 | 22 [100] | 84 [100] | 6 [27] | 21 [25] | – | – | ||||||
*, denote data presented as a median value; #, values were reported as statistically significant with P<0.05. MIT, minimally invasive thymectomy; OT, open thymectomy; MG, myasthenia gravis; VATS, video-assisted thoracoscopy; R-VATS, robotic video-assisted thoracoscopy; p-Masaoka, pathologic Masaoka stage; c-Masaoka, clinical Masaoka stage.