Surgical treatment for thymoma

Abstract

Twenty-five patients with thymoma were subjected to surgical treatment in our department from 1972 to 1990. Patients with non-invasive type (stage I), stage III, stage IVa, and stage IVb were 16, 6, 2 and 1, respectively. Twenty-two patients underwent surgical resection and 3 patients underwent exploratory thoracotomy.Histologically, 8 patients were found epithelial cell type, 5 patients lymphocytic type and 12 patients mixed type.The five-year survival rate was 85% in non-invasive type, and 58% in invasive type. Jn non-invasive type, 5-year survival rate was 100% in patients without myasthenia gravis (MG) and 56% in patients with MG. The prognosis of patients with MG was significantly poorer than the one of patients without MG. MG was causes of death in two of three patients who died among patients with MG. 5-year survival rate by histological type was 100% in lymphocytic type, 73% in epithelial cell type and 51% in mixed type.5-year survival rate according to the surgical modalities, were 85% in patients with total resection, 80% in subtotal resection and 33% in exploratory thoracotomy.