[Eight cases of thymic carcinoma]

Eight cases of thymic carcinoma (mean age 62 years, 5 males and 3 females) were treated in our hospital from Apr. 1988 to Mar. 1993, which were 21% of thymic epithelial tumors. The histologic subtypes of thymic carcinoma were 3 squamous, 4 undifferentiated, and 1 adenocarcinoma, respectively. Computed tomography showed extrathymic metastases to the mediastinal lymph nodes in 6 cases. All cases underwent thoracotomy, and postoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy were performed. A case of squamous cell carcinoma in stage II who underwent total resection followed by irradiation is alive and disease free 5 years after surgery. However, the remaining 7 cases died of the disease within 29 months. 8 cases of thymic carcinoma and 7 of thymoma were studied immunohistologically on the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues. Higher positivity of EMA in thymic carcinoma was noted comparing to ordinary thymoma, suggesting that EMA is a useful parameter of potential malignancy of the thymic epithelial neoplasms.