The long-term outcome and prognostic analysis of 51 thymic carcinoma patients

Objective: As thymic carcinoma is a rare neoplasm, imformation regarding its result of treatment and possible prognostic factors are limited. We retrospectively analyzed 51 patients with pathologically confirmed thymic carcinoma treated at the Cancer Hospital, Fudan University. Methods: Fifty-one patients with pathologically confirmed thymic carcinoma were classified according to the Masaoka satging criteria: stage II 5 patients, stage III 34, stage IV A 5, and stage IV B 7. Nineteen patients underwent gross total resection, 23 had subtotal resection, and 4 had biopsy alone. Irradiation dose ranged from 2250 cGy to 7000 cGy, with a median of 5586 cGy. Twenty-seven patients also received chemotherapy, including endoxan, adriamycin, cisplatin, 5-Fu or vincristine. The data of clinical and follow-up were analysed. The overall survival, and local control rate were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. Prognosis factors were analyzed by Cox regression model. Results: The overall 5-year survival rate was 55%. The 5-year local control rate was 71%. Univariate statistical analysis showed the Masaoka stage showed significance prognostic factors. Conclusions: With an overall 5-year survival rate of 55%, this result shows that surgery plus postoperative radiotherapy is a model and reasonable treatment for thymic carcinoma. (authors)