Successful multimodal treatment in a patient with thymoma accompanied by hepatic metastasis

Abstract

Despite a benign histologic appearance, thymomas have metastatic potential. Here we report a case of a patient with a Masaoka stage IVb thymoma who was successfully treated using a multimodal strategy including systemic chemotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, and thoracic surgery. Despite complete remission after treatment, the patient developed myasthenia gravis with ptosis and neck drop symptoms. Hepatic meastasis of thymoma is a relatively rare occurrence and, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about the application of radiofrequency ablation to thymoma. © 2008International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.