Prognostic Factors for Survival in Patients with Thymic Epithelial Tumors

Abstract

Background: 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. Materials and Methods: All patients treated between 1993–2008 at Ege University Faculty of Medicine Departments of Radiation Oncology and Thoracic Surgery were reviewed retrospectively. Results: 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). Conclusions: 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.

Key words

thymus (incl. thymoma) - radiation therapy - outcomes (includes mortality - morbidity)

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