[Clinical aspects, morphology and long-term follow-up--retrospective study of 23 thymoma patients]

Twenty-three patients with a thymoma diagnosed in the period between 1967 and 1987, were investigated retrospectively. In all the patients, the major therapeutic procedure performed had been surgery. The most important factor for the prognosis proved to be the tumour stage established at surgery. In locally non-invasive thymomas, the long-term prognosis is unimpaired. In cases showing invasion of the capsule or surrounding tissue, the prognosis deteriorates markedly, in particular in thymomas in which radical surgery is not possible. For this reason, in all stages with microscopically or macroscopically recognisable invasion, local postoperative radiation treatment is recommended. The histological classification in accordance with various proposals made in the literature has no apparent prognostic value.