Thymic carcinoma. Outcome of treatment including surgical resection.

OBJECTIVE

Thymic carcinoma is treated by the same guidelines used for thymoma, despite having a more aggressive histologic appearance and clinical course.

METHOD: To evaluate the outcome of treatment, patients undergoing treatment including surgery at the National Cancer Center Hospital East were reviewed and reported with descriptions of postoperative pathologic stages based on Masaoka staging.

RESULTS

Six Japanese patients--2 men and 4 women with a median age of 59 years (range: 23-67)--underwent treatment, including surgery. The histologic type of tumor was squamous cell carcinoma in 4, 1 of which was associated with invasive thymoma; adenosquamous carcinoma associated with thymoma in 1; and lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma in 1. Four of the 6 patients survived--2 stage II were alive and well with no evidence of disease 69 months and 44 months after surgery; 1 stage III was alive with the disease 44 months after preoperative chemotherapy and subsequent surgery; and 1 stage III was alive with multiple pulmonary metastases 17 months after surgery. A stage IVa died of the tumor 48 months after preoperative chemotherapy and subsequent surgery, while 1 stage III died of the tumor 35 months after surgery.

CONCLUSION

The outcome of thymic carcinoma treatment must be reported using the same histologic typing and staging. Further study is warranted to define precise treatment strategy for this disease.