title: Outcome of surgical treatment for recurrent thymic epithelial tumors with reference to world health organization histologic classification system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to clarify the significance of surgical treatment for recurrent thymic epithelial tumors with reference to the World Health Organization (WHO) histological classification system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Among 67 patients with tumor recurrence, 22 underwent a re-resection. There were 1 patient with a type AB tumor, 5 with type B1 tumors, 10 with type B2 tumors, 5 with type B3 tumors, and 1 with a carcinoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 10-year survival rate following the initial resection was 70% in patients who underwent a re-resection and 35% in those who did not. The average intervals from the initial resection to re-resection were 10.3, 7.8, 6.0, 2.4, and 2.6 years for patients with type AB, B1, B2, B3 tumors, and carcinoma, respectively. The patient with a type AB tumor was alive at 2.4 years after re-resection, 12.7 years after the initial resection. The 5-year survival rates following re-resection in the patients with type B1, B2, and B3 tumors were 100, 56, and 60, respectively. The patient with a carcinoma died as a result of the tumor 2 years after re-resection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WHO histological classification indicates the outcome of surgical treatment for recurrent thymic epithelial tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery (E1), Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan. meinosin@surg1.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Meinoshin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiono
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Hisaichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Hyun-Eng
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Katsuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Akihide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Mitsunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iuchi
authors.forename: Hikaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012086:Reoperation; D015996:Survival Rate; D013945:Thymoma / Q000145:classification* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014944:World Health Organization