[Surgical treatment of primary thymoma]

To summarize the clinical and pathologic features of thymoma and assess surgical treatment thereof.

The clinical data of 66 thymoma patients, 35 males and 31 females, aged 40.8 (30 approximately 59), who underwent surgical treatment in the past 20 years, were analyzed. By Masaoka staging system, underwent extensive or radical or palliative operation, most commonly performed through a median sternotomy and frequently requires en-bloc resection of one or more adjacent structures.

Fourteen of the 66 patients had associated myasthenia gravis (MG). The most common symptoms included chest pain, MG, cough, and dyspnea; only 11 of the 66 (16.7%) patients had no symptom. Masaoka staging revealed stage I in 29 patients (43.9%), stage II in 16 (24.2%), stage III in 19 (28.8%), and stage IV in 2 (3.0%). Fourteen of the 66 patients underwent radical resection, resection of the whole thymus and thymoma, 40 underwent simple resection of thymus, 5 underwent palliative resection of thymoma, and 6 underwent thymectomy exploration. Recurrence of tumor was observed in 4 patients. Postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy were performed 24 h after the operation, mainly in the cases of invasive or metastatic thymoma. One patient died within 30 days after the operation.

Resection and postoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy are necessary in treatment of thymoma, particularly complete thymectomy.