2001 Volume 15 Issue 5 Pages 544-548
Eight cases of thymic cancer treated in our hospital (mean age 57.5 years, six males and two females) were reviewed clinically. Seven of the eight cases were poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas and the other was moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. There were two stage I, three stage III and three stage IVb cases. Seven cases were macroscopically completely resected. The other stage IVb case with dissemination received only exploratory thoracotomy. Three stage III cases and two stage IVb cases were resected combined with lung, pericardium, diaphragma or innominate vein. Two stage III and two stage IVb cases were diagnosed as thymic cancer preoperatively with chest computed tomography and needle biopsy, and received induction chemoradiotherapy. These two stage III cases survived 32.5 and 47.0 month respectively after operation. But the other two stage IVb cases had metastasis in lung, liver and bone 19.8 and 11.3 month after operation respectively. One stage III case without induction therapy had metastasis in lung 12.3 month after operation. These three cases died 22.8 month after recurrence on average. The stage IVb case performed exploratory thoracotomy died at 16.5 month after operation in spite of postoperative chemoradiotherapy. Two stage I cases survived 121.4 and 74.0 month respectively after operation without adjuvant therapy. The 5-year survival rate of the resected cases was 47.6%. Complete resection produce good result single-handedly for stage I thymic cancer. Combined therapy including induction chemoradiotherapy and complete resection seems to be important to obtain better results for stage III case.
