Abstract
BackgroundThymoma is a rare tumor that originates from thymic epithelial cells and is usually associated with myasthenia gravis. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive and curative treatment for other tumors, but RFA has not been used for the early treatment of thymoma.MethodsThe current study included 13 patients with stage I thymoma who were not candidates for surgical resection or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). All patients underwent first-line CT-guided percutaneous RFA. The feasibility and therapeutic effects of the intervention were thoroughly documented.ResultsAll tumors were completely ablated (13 / 13, 100%). During follow-up (median 80.5 months, range, 64.6–116.9 months), only 1 of the 13 patients had recurrence of thymoma (1 / 13, 7.7%) at 35.5 months after the initial ablation. There were no surgery-related deaths after RFA treatment. The most common complications were fever (13 / 13, 100%) and pain (13 / 13, 100%). There was only one patient who occurred severe puncture-related bleeding during the procedure that needed blood transfusion and intravascular embolization of the punctured-injured vessel.ConclusionCT-guided percutaneous RFA for treatment of stage I thymoma is associated with minor trauma, few complications and good treatment outcomes.
Highlights
Thymoma is most commonly found in the anterior mediastinum and is the third most commonly found tumor in the mediastinum
Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is increasingly used for mediastinal tumor resection and has the advantages of minor trauma and a clear surgical field, the surgery is complex, difficult, and highly technical to perform [9,10,11,12]
The current study reported 13 patients with small masses diagnosed as stage I thymoma
Summary
Thymoma is most commonly found in the anterior mediastinum and is the third most commonly found tumor in the mediastinum. Thymoma originates from the epithelial cells of the thymus. Thymoma is considered cytologically benign and characterized by slow growth, local invasion and uncommon extrathoracic metastases. The incidence of thymoma was reported at only 0.17/100,000 per year in Europe and 0.15/100,000 per year in the United States [1, 2]. The application of surgical resection for thymoma treatment is still controversial. Thymoma is a rare tumor that originates from thymic epithelial cells and is usually associated with myasthenia gravis. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive and curative treatment for other tumors, but RFA has not been used for the early treatment of thymoma
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