Stage IV Thymic Carcinoma: A Study of 20 Patients

Our results indicate that multidisciplinary treatment, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, is beneficial in treating primary thymic carcinoma. Chemotherapy plays an important role in both primary and relapsed stage IV thymic carcinoma in terms of prolonging the disease-free survival and median survival of patients with lymphoepithelioma-like or squamous cell histology types. For patients with an undifferentiated histology, multidisciplinary treatment or chemotherapy might not be helpful in either primary or relapsed stage IV thymic carcinoma.