Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Management and Long-Term Outcomes of Advanced Stage Thymoma in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Thymomas are rare tumors, with limited data regarding treatment of advanced stage disease. While surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment, the role of additional therapy remains controversial. Our objectives were to describe treatment strategies for stage III/IV thymoma in the United States and compare survival outcomes among treatment approaches.

METHODS: We identified Masaoka stage III/IV thymoma in the National Cancer Database between 2004-2016. Frequencies of treatment with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and combinations were calculated. Five-year overall survival was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Risk-adjusted proportional hazards modeling compared mortality between treatment regimens.

RESULTS: A total of 1,849 patients were identified (1,108 stage III, 741 stage IV). Among stage III patients, 83.8% underwent resection (+/- other modalities) compared to 60.2% of stage IV. Surgery plus radiation was the most common regimen for stage III (32.6%), and non-surgical treatment (definitive chemotherapy and/or radiation) was the most common for stage IV (36.4%). Overall 5-year survival was 70.3% for stage III and 58.5% for stage IV. In risk-adjusted analysis, surgery plus radiation had the lowest mortality (Hazard Ratio 0.41, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.30-0.55). Patient age, tumor size, metastases, and non-academic treating hospital were associated with mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: Current treatment regimens for advanced stage thymoma vary significantly. Regimens which include surgical resection are most common and are associated with superior outcomes. Patients selected to have surgery as primary treatment had the best survival. Adjuvant radiation treatment is associated with better survival and should be considered in patients who undergo resection.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app