Treatment and prognosis of primary thymic carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Dr. Tokujiro Yano; Nobuyuki Hara; Yukito Ichinose; Hiroshi Asoh; Hideki Yokoyama; Mitsuo Ohta

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 359 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4790
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.2930520412

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

From 1972 to 1990, we treated eight cases of thymic carcinoma (6 squamous cell and 2 small cell carcinomas). According to the classification by Masaoka et al., they consisted of one stage I, four stage III, one stage IVa, and two stage IVb. A complete resection of the primary tumor could be done in only three patients; the others had diagnostic biopsy and then radiation treatment. Four of five patients had a prolonged regression of the primary tumors after irradiation at 40‐61.2 Gy. Six patients suffered from extrathoracic metastases. All patients received systemic chemotherapy with different regimens to counter either metastatic or locally recurrent lesions. Only two patients (with a regimen including cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine) obtained a partial response. The median survival of the eight patients was 70 months after surgical operation. The identification of an effective drug combination may thus improve the long‐term prognosis of thymic carcinoma since radiotherapy is able to control primary lesions, even in the case of unresectable advanced disease. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.