title: Outcomes after surgical resection of thymic carcinoma: A study from a single tertiary referral centre.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Thymic carcinoma is a rare and invasive mediastinal tumor, with poor prognosis. The optimal treatment for thymic carcinoma is not well defined currently.
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-institution retrospective study of patients operated for thymic carcinoma between 1996 and 2011 was conducted. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-six patients underwent surgery for thymic carcinoma. Masaoka stage was I in 11 patients, II in 20, III in 32, IVa in 13. A complete resection (R0) was achieved in 59 patients. Adjuvant radio/chemotherapy was offered to 58 patients. The 5-year disease-free survival rate and overall survival rate for all the patients were 59.7% and 66.2%, respectively. Patients with incomplete resection had a significantly worse disease-free survival and overall survival as compared to complete resection with univariate analyses (both p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that complete resection and Masaoka stage were statistically associated with disease-free survival and overall survival (p = 0.005 and 0.013 with complete resection; p = 0.006 and 0.009 with Masaoka stage).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our result indicated that complete resection and Masaoka stage could impact the disease-free survival and overall survival of patients with thymic carcinoma after surgical resection.
authors: Department of Chemotherapy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, 38 Guangji Road, Hangzhou 310022, PR China; Key Laboratory Diagnosis and Treatment Technology on Thoracic Oncology, Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310022, PR China. Electronic address: songzhengbo83@163.com.
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Song
authors: Department of Chemotherapy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, 38 Guangji Road, Hangzhou 310022, PR China; Key Laboratory Diagnosis and Treatment Technology on Thoracic Oncology, Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310022, PR China. Electronic address: zjzlyy16@163.com.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D059186:Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D013945:Thymoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Masaoka staging system; Prognosis; Surgery; Thymic carcinoma