Failure of Thymectomy to Alter the Subsequent Course of Human Acute Leukemia in Drug-Induced Remission

Abstract
Thymectomy was performed during the period of drug-induced remission of acute leukemia in 3 patients aged 16, 4, and 3 years. One case was characterized as acute erythromyeloid and 2 as acute lymphocytic leukemia. In each instance thymectomy apparently failed to influence the subsequent course of the disease. From these limited data, it does not appear that further experience with this procedure is warranted at the present time.