Thymoma: current medical and surgical management.

Thymoma is a rare neoplasm usually with an indolent growth pattern; however, local invasion and/or dissemination may occur. Surgery has been the standard of care for early stage disease with good to excellent cure rates anticipated. This neoplasm has been found to be relatively sensitive to cisplatinum-based chemotherapy as compared with most other epithelial tumors. Aggressive multimodality therapy therefore can result in long-term disease-free survival for patients presenting with locally advanced or even disseminated disease. This chapter outlines the current medical and surgical treatment options for thymoma.