title: Persistent and aggressive treatment for thymic carcinoma. Results of a single-institute experience with 25 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the role of several therapies, mainly chemotherapy, for thymic carcinoma (TC).
  
  
  METHODS
  From July 1973 to July 2005, 25 patients (15 males and 10 females) with histologically proven TC were treated at our department. The median age of the patients was 59 years, with a range of from 30 to 78 years. According to Masaoka's staging system, there was 1 stage I patient, 3 stage II, 7 stage III, 6 stage IVa, and 8 stage IVb patients. The histological subtype was in all cases squamous cell carcinoma, nonkeratinizing type.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 6 complete surgical resections, 1 incomplete resection followed by chemoradiotherapy, 6 with radiotherapy alone, 3 with radiotherapy plus chemotherapy, and 9 with chemotherapy alone as the initial treatment. Eighteen patients were administered second-line therapy. The regimen obtaining the best response rate was doublet chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin (CBDCA) and paclitaxel. The median survival time and survival rate at 5 years for the patients excluding surgical cases with stage I/II disease were 32 months and 31%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The doublet of CBDCA and paclitaxel thus appears to be a promising regimen for TC and further investigation in a multi-institutional phase II trial is, therefore, strongly called for.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Oncology, Kyushu Cancer Center, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Riichiroh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suemitsu
authors.forename: Tatsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Miyako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojo
authors.forename: Yoshiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wataya
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishiyama
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seto
authors.forename: Yukito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ichinose
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013945:Thymoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D016190:Carboplatin; D017239:Paclitaxel