Current Thoracic Surgery 2022 , Vol 7 , Issue 3
Investigation of the effect of surgical technique on survival and recurrence in thymoma
Merve Sengul Inan1,Kubilay Inan2,Selim Sakir Erkmen Gulhan3,Koray Aydogdu3,Pınar Bıcakcıoglu3,Göktürk Fındık3
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gulhane Education and Training Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ankara City Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
3Department of Thoracic Surgery Ataturk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
DOI : 10.26663/cts.2022.022 Viewed : 2255 - Downloaded : 1299 Background: Although rare, thymomas are common primary tumors of the anterior mediastinum. Herein we aimed to investigate the outcomes of thymoma surgeries, with a focus on survival rates and in reference to the demographic and histological characteristics of patients. The secondary aim is to identify the factors that affect recurrence.

Materials and Methods: Fifty-five patients were operated on for thymoma have been retrospectively evaluated according to their demographics, clinical characteristics, pathologies, complications, recurrences and survival.

Results: The mean SUVmax value was found to be 5.5 ± 2.05 and showed no correlation with mass diameter or stage (p = 0.284 and p = 0.176, respectively). The mean survival was 55.9 ± 35.31 months in the R0 resection group. Overall survival was not correlated with age and mass diameter at a statistically significant level (p = 0.056, p = 0.108 respectively). There was no difference in the frequency of recurrence between the WHO stages (p = 0.775). Conversely, when classified as per the Masaoka–Koga classification, recurrence was detected in all stage-4 patients (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: To date, there is no practical structure that classifies and integrates prognostic factors and creates a usable system out of them but, in thymomas, the best results are achieved by complete surgical resection. Keywords : thymoma, thymectomy, tumor staging, VATS thymectomy