Prognostic Factors of Patients with Thymoma

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the prognostic factors influencing the survival of patients with thymoma, clinical characteristics, treatment modalities and survival of patients were evaluated. The efficacy of chemotherapy was also determined. METHODS: Retrospective study was done on one hundred patients whose diagnosis was confirmed pathologically at Seoul National University Hospital from 1981 to 1994. The staging was carried out according to the Masaoka system. Survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and prognostic factors were analyzed by a multivariate analysis (Weibull model). RESULTS: 1. Stage : I-92.8%, II-100%, III-71.6%, IVA-25.9% and IVB-32.9% (p=0.0029). 2. Age : <60 years-79.5% and ≥60 years-41.5% (p=0.0489). 3. Extent of resection: Total patients : complete reseotion-87.6% and incomplete resection-50.5% (p>0.05). Stage III: complete resection-66.7% and incomplete reseotion-75.5% (p>0.05). 4. Myasthenia gravis: present-71.6% and absent-74.9% (p>0.05). Seventeen patients were treated with a combination chemotherapy of Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin and cisplatin (CAP). Two complete responses and seven partial responses (overall response rate of 53%) were observed with a median response duration of fourteen months. Combination chemotherapy with CAP was effective. CONCLUSIONS: Stage and age were the independent prognostic factors in patients with thymoma. However, the presence of myasthenia gravis or the extent of resection in stage III patients was not associated with the survival time.