Surgical treatment of thymic carcinoid

Abstract

Carcinoid tumors arising in the thymus are rare. In a 23-year review (1970 to 1992) of surgically treated thymic tumors in the first department of surgery, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, only five cases of thymic carcinoid were identified : three men and two women aged 41 to 57 years (mean 48.2 years) at the time of operation. Follow-up information was available in all patients, the longest being six years and five months and the shortest one year and eight months after surgery. Recurrence and/or metastasis developed in three of the four patients who had undergone total excision of the tumor. An aggressive surgical approach with complete initial excision of the tumor and of the subsequent recurrence along with radiation is the best available treatment.