Efficacy and toxicities of gemcitabine and cisplatin combination chemotherapy in advanced thymoma and thymic carcinoma.

Abstract

e20007 Background: Thymoma and thymic carcinoma are rare thymic epithelial tumours. This study investigated the efficacy of first-line gemcitabine and cisplatin combination chemotherapy in advanced thymoma and thymic carcinoma Methods: Retrospective review of patients with histologically-confirmed invasive, metastatic thymoma or thymic carcinoma treated with gemcitabine plus cisplatin as a first-line therapy between August 2008 and February 2016 at the Department of Respiratory Medicine II Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute. The objective response rate was the primary end point. Results: Forty patients, 13 with thymoma and 27 with thymic carcinoma, were identified. Nine received gemcitabine and cisplatin combined with Endostar (injectable recombinant human Endostatin); 31 received gemcitabine and cisplatin only. Of the 13 patients with thymoma, four (30.8%) achieved a partial response (PR) and nine (69.2%) had stable disease (SD); no patients had a complete response (CR) or progressive disease (PD). Among the 27 patients with thymic carcinoma, 13 (48.1%) achieved a PR, 12 (44.4%) had SD and two (7.4%) had PD; no patients had a CR. In thymic carcinoma, progression free survival (PFS) was 25 months and median survival (OS) was 41 months; in thymoma, median PFS was 29 months and median OS was 77 months. As no patients achieved a complete response, objective response was defined as partial response in this study. Conclusions: This retrospective analysis indicates gemcitabine plus cisplatin has moderate efficacy and could represent a suitable first-line therapy for thymic carcinoma and thymoma, especially for patents who cannot tolerate anthracyclines. [Table: see text]