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Multimodality treatment for advanced thymic carcinoma: outcomes of induction therapy followed by surgical resection in 16 cases at a single institution

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Abstract

Objective

We reviewed our institutional experience with cases of multimodality treatment for advanced thymic carcinoma to determine patient outcomes and prognostic indicators.

Methods

Between 1998 and 2014, 16 patients with a Masaoka stage III or IV thymic carcinoma underwent surgical resection after induction therapy at Osaka University Hospital. These were considered to have great vessel invasion or metastasis to the mediastinal or intrathoracic lymph nodes based on the preoperative workup findings, and received induction therapy.

Results

Complete tumor resection was achieved in 11 (69 %) after the induction therapy. Pathological findings revealed that 10 patients had Masaoka stage III disease, 1 had IVa, and 5 had IVb. The histological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma in 13, neuroendocrine carcinoma in 2, and undifferentiated carcinoma in 1. The 5-year survival rate for all patients was 71 %. Survival was significantly better in patients who underwent a complete resection (R0 disease) as compared to those with incompletely resected tumors (R1 or R2 disease).

Conclusions

Multimodality treatment offers encouraging results and complete resection provides high survival rate for patients with advanced thymic carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2-L5 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yasushi Shintani, Masayoshi Inoue, Tomohiro Kawamura, Soichiro Funaki, Masato Minami & Meinoshin Okumura

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  1. Yasushi Shintani
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  2. Masayoshi Inoue
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  3. Tomohiro Kawamura
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  4. Soichiro Funaki
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  5. Masato Minami
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  6. Meinoshin Okumura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasushi Shintani.

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Shintani, Y., Inoue, M., Kawamura, T. et al. Multimodality treatment for advanced thymic carcinoma: outcomes of induction therapy followed by surgical resection in 16 cases at a single institution. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 63, 159–163 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-014-0486-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-014-0486-7

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