Chemotherapy for thymic tumors: induction, consolidation, palliation

Although thymoma and thymic carcinoma are rare malignancies, they constitute a large proportion of tumors of the anterior mediastinum. Surgery forms the mainstay of therapy; however, thymic malignancies are sensitive to chemotherapy and radiation therapy also. Systemic chemotherapy is primarily used for treatment of metastatic or recurrent disease. Chemotherapy is also used as a component of multimodality treatment in the neoadjuvant setting with the aim of increasing the chances of achieving a complete surgical resection. In this article we outline various clinical trials that have been performed to evaluate the role of chemotherapy in the treatment of thymic malignancies.