Myasthenia gravis is a neurological disorder that manifests clinically as muscle weakness or fatigue after repetitive activity, with symptoms relieved after rest, and is an autoimmune disease. The result is a reduction in the number of functional acetylcholine receptors, which leads to impaired action potential generation and even neuromuscular conduction. As a result, the number of functional acetylcholine receptors is reduced, leading to impaired action potential generation and even neuromuscular conduction. Myasthenia gravis affects young women and older men, with an average age of onset of 26 years. Almost any muscle group in the body can be involved, and the eye muscle is the most vulnerable muscle group in myasthenia gravis. The initial symptoms of myasthenia gravis are typically paroxysmal weakness that increases progressively over time. The initial symptoms are often limited to the eye muscles, but more than 80% of patients with eye muscles can develop generalized myasthenia gravis within one year of onset, which is characterized by generalized muscle involvement and limitation of movement, with some patients eventually dying from respiratory muscle involvement. Since 1901, attention has been paid to the relationship between myasthenia gravis and the thymus gland, and it is now believed that the thymus gland plays an important role in the development of this autoimmune disease, as evidenced by the following: first, more than 80% of patients, especially young patients, have thymic hyperplasia or thymoma; second, anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies and antibodies against other transverse muscle antigens are found in the thymus gland of patients with myasthenia gravis. Third, thymectomy has been shown to be highly effective. Treatment includes pharmacological and surgical treatment, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. It is usually considered that non-surgical treatment is possible only in the early stages, and once the disease worsens or develops into generalized myasthenia gravis, thymectomy is the best option because of the possibility of a good prognosis and avoidance of additional pharmacological treatment. In terms of pharmacological treatment, anticholinesterase drugs: the most commonly used drugs are neostigmine and bromipyridamole, while other drugs such as corticosteroids or plasma exchange to remove specific plasma factors and acetylcholine antibodies from the patient’s plasma; and combined or separate immunosuppressive drugs are often only clinically effective. In terms of surgical treatment, due to the important position of the thymus in the pathogenesis, development and prognosis of myasthenia gravis, thymectomy has become the main treatment modality of choice, while transthoracic thymectomy and expanded thymectomy have been used less and less in clinical practice due to the complexity and trauma of the procedure. It should be noted that due to the wide application of thoracoscopy in clinical practice and the maturity of the surgical technique of thoracoscopic thymectomy, thoracoscopic surgery can achieve the same efficacy as open surgery, and the minimally invasive nature of thoracoscopic surgery can significantly shorten the length of hospitalization and reduce the cost of hospitalization, thus thoracoscopic thymectomy has incomparable superiority compared with traditional surgical methods and has become the first choice. It has become the preferred surgical treatment for myasthenia gravis. After thymectomy, most patients can get clinical symptom relief and resume daily life and certain working ability, even if a small number of patients have recurrence of symptoms after a period of time, they can still get some relief by retreatment.