Totally endoscopic techniques: Right-sided thoracoscopic thymectomy

Abstract

Thymectomy has a history stretching back over a century. Originally removed via a cervical incision, this organ is notable for the variety of methods now described for its removal. From the extensive dissections using combined sternotomy with cervical incision, to basic or extended thymectomy through upper or lower hemi-sternotomy. From small cervical or subxiphoid incisions, unilateral or bilateral thoracoscopic approaches, with or without sternal lift to the use of robotics, the array is as dazzling as the rhetoric of each technique's proponents. © 2008 Springer Milan.