title: Surgical Outcomes of Patients With Stage III Thymoma in the Japanese Nationwide Database.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate the clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes of patients who underwent surgery for stage III thymoma in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the Japanese nationwide database, which contains the records of 2,835 patients with thymic epithelial tumors who underwent treatment between 1991 and 2010, we extracted and analyzed the records of those who underwent surgery for stage III thymoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 310 patients (170 males, 140 females; median age, 58 years) were analyzed. Involved sites were the lung in 194 (62.6%), the pericardium in 151 (48.7%), the great vessels in 126 (40.6%), the phrenic nerve in 84 (27.1%), and the chest wall in 7 (2.3%). Complete resection (R0) was achieved in 247 (79.7%) cases. Induction therapies were administered to 42 (13.5%) patients, and postoperative therapies were administered to 147 (47.4%). In R0 cases, 68 (27.5%) experienced recurrence. The pleural space was the most frequent site of recurrence (46; 18.6%). The 10-year overall and disease-free (in R0) survival rates were 80.2% and 51.6%, respectively. Multivariate analyses revealed that age (p = 0.002), male sex (p = 0.017), induction therapy (p < 0.001), and type B histology (p = 0.037) were independent adverse predictors for overall survival. Chest wall invasion was the only independent adverse predictor for disease-free survival, although the factor analysis was marginal for overall survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The outcomes of surgery for patients with stage III thymoma were favorable unless chest wall invasion was present; however, the role of complete resection and appropriate multimodal treatment plan require further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan. Electronic address: yoshito.yamada@usz.ch.
authors.forename: Yoshito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yoshino
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Science, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery I, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takamasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohnuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagayasu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic, Breast, and Pediatric Surgery, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Meinoshin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okumura
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013945:Thymoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome