SynthesisFrontiers in immunology2021
Early Thymectomy Is Associated With Long-Term Impairment of the Immune System: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Frontiers in immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-term immunological impairment after early thymectomy in congenital heart disease.Immunologic research · 2026Article
- Long-Term Cancer and Mortality After Thymectomy.European journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Demographic and histopathological evaluation of thymus in 1173 cases of cyanotic and acyanotic congenital heart diseases.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Surgical Result for Patients Who Simultaneously Presented With Myasthenia Gravis and Thymoma.Thoracic cancer · 2026Article
- Sustained Effector Functions and Memory Accumulation of αβ T Cells in Children With Congenital Heart Disease.European journal of immunology · 2026Article
- Neonatal Thymic Dynamics Influence Autoimmune Pathology by Shaping the Suppressive Potential of Regulatory T Cells.The American journal of pathology · 2026Article
- Good's Syndrome Mirrors a Combined Immunodeficiency with Anti-Cytokine Antibodies in the Total Absence of B Cells.Journal of clinical immunology · 2026Article
- The systemic effects of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome on immunity.Journal of human immunity · 2026Review
- Multiscale physiologically-based model of age-dependent CD4+ T-lymphocyte homeostasis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Endocarditis in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease.Methodist DeBakey cardiovascular journal · 2026Review
- Prevention of Respiratory Infections in Children with Congenital Heart Disease: Current Evidence and Clinical Strategies.Vaccines · 2025Review
- Immunodeficiencies in Adults: Key Considerations for Diagnosis and Management.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2025Review
- Early-life thymectomy results in visceral adipose tissue inflammation and glucose intolerance.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2025Article
- Informed clinical decisions by outfoxing human FOXN1 variants.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2025Review
- Article
- Heterogeneity of thymic output in the elderly and its association with sex and smoking.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Multi-Organ Transplantation in Adult Congenital Heart Disease: Navigating the Unique Challenges of a Distinct Patient Population.Methodist DeBakey cardiovascular journal · 2025Review
- Early-life thymectomy leads to an increase of granzyme-producing γδ T cells in children with congenital heart disease.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Glucocorticoids impair T lymphopoiesis after myocardial infarction.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Aims: Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are diagnosed in approximately 9 in 1,000 newborns, and early cardiac corrective surgery often requires partial or complete thymectomy. As the long-term effect of early thymectomy on the subsequent development of the immune system in humans has not been completely elucidated, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of thymus removal on the functional capacity of the immune system after different periods. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS and Scopus. The inclusion criteria were original studies that analyzed any component of the immune system in patients with CHD who had undergone thymectomy during cardiac surgery in the first years of life. The results were evaluated for the quality of evidence. Results: Twenty-three studies were selected and showed that patients who underwent a thymectomy in the first years of life tended to exhibit important alterations in the T cell compartment, such as fewer total T cells, CD4+, CD8+, naïve and CD31+ T cells, lower TRECs, decreased diversity of the TCR repertoire and higher peripheral proliferation (increased Ki-67 expression) than controls. However, the numbers of memory T cells and Treg cells differed across the selected studies. Conclusions: Early thymectomy, either partial or complete, may be associated with a reduction in many T cell subpopulations and TCR diversity, and these alterations may persist during long-term follow-up. Alternative solutions should be studied, either in the operative technique with partial preservation of the thymus or through the autograft of fragments of the gland. Systematic Review Registration: Prospero [157188].
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