Thymoma: a clinical and pathological study of 65 cases

A clinicopathologic study of 65 patients with thymomas was performed. The most significant prognostic feature of the thymomas was the presence or absence of gross invasion of adjacent tissue. None of 37 patients with non-invasive thymomas died of tumor or had a recurrence. Invasive thymomas resulted in the death of 3 of 17 patients. Two others are alive with unresectable tumor, and one other patient died of myasthenia gravis with recurrent thymoma. The histologic type of thymoma had no value in predicting prognosis. Thirty-five patients had possibly associated syndromes. These syndromes, particularly myasthenia gravis and red cell hypoplasia, affected survival to an equal or greater extent than did the direct effects of the tumors.