Purpose Thymic malignancies, comprising thymoma and thymic carcinoma, are rare. Consequently, optimal chemotherapy for advanced thymic malignancies remains controversial. Platinum-based chemotherapy is currently the consensus treatment based on the results of single-arm phase II trials and retrospective investigations. However, comparison of cisplatin-based and carboplatin-based chemotherapy has yet to be undertaken; the effectiveness of the addition of anthracycline also remains uncertain.MethodsIn the present study, clinical trials and retrospective data regarding platinum-based chemotherapy were analyzed. The endpoint was the response rate to each chemotherapy. For advanced thymoma, we compared platinum with anthracycline-based chemotherapy and platinum with non-anthracycline-based chemotherapy. For advanced thymic carcinoma, anthracycline-based versus non-anthracycline-based chemotherapy and carboplatin-based versus cisplatin-based chemotherapy were compared. This analysis included a retrospective study of response of advanced thymic carcinoma to irinotecan and cisplatin in our institution.ResultsThe response rate for the 314 patients from 15 studies with advanced thymoma, including both prospective and retrospective data, was 69.4 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 63.1–75.0 %] for platinum with anthracycline-based chemotherapy and 37.8 % (95 % CI 28.1–48.6 %; p < 0.0001) for platinum with non-anthracycline-based chemotherapy. The response rates after anthracycline-based and non-anthracycline-based chemotherapy for advanced thymic carcinoma were similar (41.8 vs. 40.9 %; p < 0.91), whereas the response rates after cisplatin-based and carboplatin-based chemotherapy for advanced thymic carcinoma differed significantly (53.6 vs. 32.8 %; p = 0.0029) in 206 patients from 10 studies.ConclusionsPlatinum with anthracycline-based chemotherapy is an optimal combination for advanced thymoma. For advanced thymic carcinoma, cisplatin-based chemotherapy may be superior to carboplatin-based chemotherapy.

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Response to first-line chemotherapy may be implicated as a potential surrogate for survival in advanced thymic carcinoma.

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BackgroundThymic epithelial tumors (TETs), which comprise thymoma and thymic carcinoma, are rare cancers with specific morphological and clinical features. Their clinical characteristics and outcomes have gradually been clarified by assessing large-scale, retrospective data obtained with international cooperation.MethodsThe study is a retrospective review of 187 Japanese patients with TETs who attended our institution from 1976 to 2012. Relevant clinical features of patients with TETs and their tumors, including histology, staging, treatment strategies, and overall survival, were investigated. Differences in survival were assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method and uni- and multi-variate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses.ResultsThe 187 patients included 52 patients with stage I, 37 with stage II, 22 with stage III, and 76 with stage IVa/IVb tumors according to the Masaoka–Koga Staging System. As to histological type, five patients had type A, 33 type AB, 19 type B1, 39 type B2, and 15 type B3 thymomas, whereas 68 patients had thymic carcinoma, including 11 with neuroendocrine carcinomas according to the 2004 WHO classification. Either insufficient data were available to classify the tumors of the remaining eight patients or they had rare types. Immunological abnormalities were present in 26 patients, most of whom had thymomas (21.8% of the thymoma group). Most of the patients who presented with symptoms had myasthenia gravis or extensive thymic carcinoma. Secondary cancers were present in 25 patients (13.3%). The overall 5- and 10-year survival rates for thymoma were 85.4 and 71.5%, respectively, and those for thymic carcinoma were 33.8 and 2.3%, respectively. OS differed significantly between stage IVa thymomas and thymic carcinomas. The stage and whether the tumors were thymomas or thymic carcinomas were significant determinants of survival according to multivariate analysis.ConclusionThe efficacy of treatments for thymoma and thymic carcinoma should be investigated separately because these tumors differ in their clinical features and prognosis.

Background. Prior supplementation with folic acid and vitamin B 12 is required to reduce pemetrexed therapy toxicity; the recommended lead-in time is at least 7 days. On the basis of previous pharmacokinetic and clinical studies, we hypothesized that the lead-in time could be shortened to 24 hours, enabling earlier commencement of standard chemotherapy; thus, we planned the first prospective trial of this regimen. Methods. Patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer who had not previously received cytotoxic chemotherapy were enrolled. After measurement of homocysteine concentrations, the patients received 1,000 mg of vitamin B 12 by intramuscular injection and began taking 350-500 mg of oral folic acid daily. Starting 24-48 hours after the vitamin B 12 injection, the patients received intravenous 500 mg/m 2 pemetrexed and 75 mg/m 2 cisplatin for 4 cycles at 3

Immuno-checkpoint inhibitor response and immune-related adverse events remain controversial issues. Managing pericardial effusion during programmed cell death 1 inhibitor treatment is challenging. Here, we report a case of successfully managed cardiac tamponade caused by nivolumab-induced pseudoprogression. A 62-year-old male diagnosed with advanced lung adenocarcinoma started on nivolumab. Seven days later, he experienced cardiac tamponade and required pericardiocentesis, and other lesions were larger on computed tomography. The patient's condition stabilized after pericardiocentesis. However, although the lesions other than pericardial effusion were reduced on chest CT, cardiac tamponade recurred after 6 weeks. We considered that the case involved cardiac tamponade induced by pseudoprogression and administered intrapericardial bleomycin after pericardiocentesis. Thereafter, the patient was administered nivolumab for 7 months until disease progression.

Treatment with amrubicin appeared effective in SCLC patients previously treated with chemotherapy, although it was not necessarily safe, because of myelosuppression. Further research is warranted to investigate amrubicin treatment for patients with SCLC.