Prognostic factors for survival in patients with thymic epithelial tumors

Aim of the study was to identify and evaluate the prognostic efficacy of standard clinicopathological factors of thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) for treatment-related outcomes.

All patients treated between 1993-2008 at Ege University Faculty of Medicine Departments of Radiation Oncology and Thoracic Surgery were reviewed retrospectively.

Forty-seven patients with a median age of 51 (range: 24-72) were identified. Complete resection was performed in 23 (51.1%), incomplete resection with microscopic residues in 17 (37.8%), subtotal resection with gross residues in 2 (4.4%) and biopsy in 5 (11.1%) patients. Radiotherapy was administered to 39 (83%) patients. Median follow-up duration was 51 months (range: 3-168 months). Five-year local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) rates were 93%, 90% and 85% for thymoma and 80%, 66% and 72% for thymic carcinoma patients, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the extent of resection was the only significant prognostic factor for OS (P = 0.001).

The most important prognostic factor for overall survival was the extent of resection. Further studies with larger numbers of patients are required to confirm the prognostic factors and to obtain a better understanding of the biological behavior of TETs.