Clinical Management of Thymoma Patients

18F-FDG PET/CT is Useful for Pretreatment Assessment of the Histopathologic Type of Thymic Epithelial Tumors

“…Whenever possible, more-invasive thymomas and invasive carcinomas should be completely resected, as ectopic thymic tissue may have a negative impact on local control and survival [9,10]. In contrast, less-invasive thymomas may be excised using VATS technology, which combines minimal invasiveness and an acceptable extent of resection [2,11]. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy can differentiate among mediastinal lesions and can be used to diagnose or classify thymomas histopathologically [12][13][14].…”

World Health Organization classification of thymomas provides significant prognostic information for selected stage III patients: evidence from an international thymoma study group

“…Patients with stages I and II thymomas are treated with radical thymectomy. Postoperative radiation therapy is sometimes recommended to selected thymoma patients with stage II disease [3,4]. Patients with stage III thymoma tend to be treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed by radical thymectomy, whereas patients with more advanced disease are currently treated with surgery followed by chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy [3,4].…”

“…These findings raise the question whether thymomas A, AB, and B1 should be reclassified into a single histologic type, although they show distinct albeit overlapping morphological features, or should they continue to be classified according to current WHO criteria but "graded" according to their prognosis. Nevertheless, the WHO histologic type is not currently used as a predictive factor to select therapeutic modalities for thymoma patients, although it has been suggested that this information may become valuable in the future to help select patients with advanced stage disease that may benefit from neoadjuvant therapy prior to thymectomy [3,7].…”

Establishment and characterization of a novel cell line derived from human thymoma AB tumor

“…3 Although complete resection and chemotherapy are effective therapies for early disease, metastases remain a challenge. [4][5][6] Tumors of all histological types, albeit with different frequencies, can spread locally within the pleura and pericardial cavity, and give rise to local or distant metastases. 5,6 The treatment strategies include the combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy based on the extent of the disease and the status of tumor resectability.…”

“…5,6 The treatment strategies include the combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy based on the extent of the disease and the status of tumor resectability. 3,4 Surgery is the main choice of treatment for localized thymic tumors, as complete resection is the most significant prognostic factor. In patients with advanced thymic malignancies, cisplatin and carboplatin-based combination chemotherapy has become standard.…”