[Diagnosis and therapeutic aspects of epithelial thymomas]

The authors present histopathology, clinical course, and therapy results of seven patients with epithelial thymomas who have been irradiated subsequently to operation between 1971 and 1981. Four patients are alive without tumors two to twelve years after radiotherapy. One patient died ten years after treatment without any sign of recurrence, two patients died from a local recurrence or metastases eight months and four years after diagnosis, respectively. The therapy of choice is a resection of tumorous tissues performed as completely as possible which succeeds mostly in sano in case of encapsulated thymomas. Our experiences show that an irradiation is indicated for inoperable or incompletely resected thymomas in order to decrease the high risk of local recurrences and to obtain favorable long-term results.