A Harvard study found that the removal of the thymus (thymectomy), which is responsible for the formation of T-lymphocytes in children (after puberty, the thymus is replaced by adipose tissue, and is believed to practically cease to function), in adult patients increases the risk of adverse outcomes. They came to this conclusion by analyzing the incidence in 1146 patients without thymus and 6021 patients in the control group. Five years after surgery, all-cause mortality in the thymectomy group was higher than in the control group (8.1 percent versus 2.8 percent) as was the risk of developing cancer (7.4 percent versus 3.7 percent). Study published V The New England Journal of Medicine.
In addition, by excluding from the analysis patients with preoperative infection, cancer and autoimmune diseases, the researchers found an increased risk of developing autoimmune diseases in patients without a thymus. Also in the subgroup of patients who measured the number of T-lymphocytes and the levels of cytokines in blood plasma, patients without thymus showed reduced production of CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes compared with the control group.
2023-08-04 09:41:00
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