Primary thymic carcinoma

Abstract

Background. Thymic carcinoma is a malignancy of the anterior mediastinum, always with poor prognosis. Up to the present, very few articles have discussed and evaluated either the clinical or pathologic features or treatments of this tumor. Therefore, we are in a position to analyze our research data to support our belief as follows. Methods. From January 1977 until December 1997, we received 614 patients who were diagnosed with anterior mediastinal tumors. Of the 614 patients, 38 patients (6.2%) were diagnosed with thymic carcinoma, including 26 men and 12 women. Data were collected from clinical records and personal interviews with the patients. Classification of these patients' tumor stages was based on the Masaoka staging system. Results. We proceeded with surgery for 15 of the 38 patients to remove their tumors. Complete resection was done in 8 of these 15 patients (21.0%), whereas debulking was done in the other 7 (18.4%) patients. The mean survival time of all the patients in this study (excluding 3 patients who were lost to follow-up) was 53.0 months, with a median of 24.1 months. The overall cumulative survival rate was 38.6% at 3 years and 27.5% at 5 years. The data in this research show that tumor grading (p = 0.01), resectability (p = 0.02), and stage (p = 0.04) have statistically significant influence on patients' survival. Conclusions. The grade, stage, and resectability of the tumor are decisive factors of the effectiveness of either surgery or chemo/radiotherapies in the treatment of thymic carcinoma. © 2002 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.