title: Proton beam therapy for a patient with a giant thymic carcinoid tumor and severe superior vena cava syndrome.
abstract: Surgical resection is the first choice for treatment of a thymic carcinoid tumor and radiotherapy is often performed as adjuvant therapy. Here, we report a case of an unresectable and chemoresistant thymic carcinoid tumor that was treated successfully using standalone proton beam therapy (PBT). The patient was a 66-year-old woman in whom surgical resection of the tumor was impossible because of cardiac invasion. Therefore, chemotherapy was administered. However, the tumor grew to 15 cm in diameter and she developed severe superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome. She was referred to our hospital and received PBT at a dose of 74 GyE in 37 fractions. PBT was conducted without severe early toxicities. After PBT, the tumor mildly shrunk to 13 cm in diameter and SVC syndrome almost disappeared. Subsequently, the tumor has continued to decrease in size slowly over the last 2 years and late toxicities have not been observed. Our experience with this case suggests that PBT may be effective for an unresectable thymic carcinoid tumor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mizumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Haruko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Numajiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tsukuba , Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakurai
keywords: mediastinal tumor; proton beam therapy; radiation; superior vena cava syndrome; thymic carcinoid tumor