Crucial role of treatment with palliative intent for a patient with advanced thymic carcinoma

Thymic carcinoma is a rare cancer that is more aggressive and shows a poorer prognosis compared with thymoma. Molecular analysis has demonstrated that this entity is clearly distinct from thymoma. However, no definitive clinical management has been reported, and the roles of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced thymic carcinoma remain unclear given the rarity of this clinicopathology. The current study reports the case of a 65-year-old male who presented with advanced thymic carcinoma with solitary brain and pulmonary metastases, but demonstrated long-term survival following multiple lines of chemotherapy and radiotherapy with palliative intent. Although the solitary brain metastasis was well controlled for several years using whole-brain irradiation, cognitive function gradually declined with cerebral atrophy. Thymic carcinoma is known to show a poor prognosis and aggressive clinical progress, however, it occasionally demonstrates a clinically indolent course. Modalities of treatment should thus be selected prudently to avoid toxicity, in consideration of the possibility of long-term survival. Stereotactic radiation therapy for brain metastases, including cyberknife or γ-knife surgery, appears to represent the optimal local treatment for such patients with unexpectedly longer survival due to indolent thymic carcinoma.