[Twelve cases of advanced thymic carcinoma: a clinical review]

Thymic carcinoma is comparatively rare and no standard treatment has been established for advanced stage cases. We reviewed our therapeutic experience in 12 cases of thymic carcinoma. They consisted of 9 men and 3 women, ranging from 38 to 69 years of age, with a mean age of 56.5. According to Masaoka's classification, 5 cases were stage III and 7 were preoperative stage IVb. Nine cases were squamous cell carcinoma and 3 were adenocarcinoma. Four cases of preoperative clinical stage III underwent extended thymectomy, but none were completely resected and were classified as stage IV postoperatively. Chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy was given in 1 case, chemotherapy (monotherapy) was given in 4 cases, radiation therapy was given in 1 case, and 2 cases received best supportive care. The median survival time (MST) of patients who had undergone combined modality treatments including surgery was 1971 days, which was longer than the MST of 567 days of patients who were not able to undergo surgery. The prognosis outcome of advanced thymic carcinoma is poor, but combined modality therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation can be effective for some advanced thymic carcinoma cases.