Current Thoracic Surgery 2019 , Vol 4 , Issue 2
Prognostic factors and long-term survival outcomes of thymic tumors
Cemal Aker1,Cem Emrah Kalafat2,Celal Buğra Sezen1,Yasar Sonmezoglu1,Levent Cansever1,Muzaffer Metin1,Celalettin Ibrahim Kocaturk3
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, University of Health Sciences, Yedikule Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Health Application and Research Center, İstanbul, Turkey
2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Mardin State Hospital, Mardin, Turkey
3Department of Thoracic Surgery, Istinye Faculty of Medicine, Liv Hospital Ulus, Istanbul, Turkey
DOI : 10.26663/cts.2019.00015 Viewed : 3989 - Downloaded : 1212 Background: Thymic masses are the most common anterior mediastinal neoplasms. In this study, we analyzed the histopathologic subgroups and stages of thymic tumors, evaluated mortality and morbidity, and identified the factors affecting survival in patients who underwent thymectomy due to thymic tumors.

Materials and Methods: 159 patients who underwent surgery in our center for anterior mediastinal mass between January 2005 and December 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. Of the patients who had thymectomy procedures, 76 with thymoma or thymic carcinoma were included in the study.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 51 ± 14.3 (18-77) years. Forty-seven patients (61.8%) were male, and 29 (38.2%) were female. Fourteen of the patients (18.4%) were aged 65 years or older. Sixteen patients (21.1%) also had myasthenia gravis. The diagnosis was thymoma in 67 patients (85.2%) and thymic carcinoma in 9 patients (11.8%). There were no statistically significant differences in survival outcomes based on Masaoka or World Health Organization (WHO) thymoma stage. In terms of the extent of resection, survival time was 83.4 ± 10.5 months for patients who had simple thymectomy and 124 ± 5.4 months among patients who underwent extended or maximal thymectomy (p = 0.043).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that thymoma stage and histopathologic subgroup were not prognostic factors, while extended resection was the most significant factor in survival. Keywords : thymoma, anterior mediastinal mass, thoracoscopic surgery, prognostic factors