[Diagnosis and therapy of thymus tumors]

Abstract

In this paper we report about the treatment process of thymic tumours. Dominating among our patients are thymomas with lymphocyte predominance (n = 16) followed by epithelioid (n = 8) and spindle cell (n = 2) thymomas. For classification and for estimation of prognosis all thymomas were divided into macroscopical and histological stadiums I-IV. In the long-term process a better survival rate for patients with thymomas with lymphocyte predominance and histological stadium of invasion I was 93% over seven years. The worst results were reached by patients of the infiltration groups III and IV-the survival rate was 50%. By 17 of 26 patients suffering from a thymoma the tumours were associated with myasthenia gravis. Especially frequently we found class IIB and III according to Osserman. The survival rate in this patients was 76.5% (13 patients) in the treatment process. An improvement and stabilization of myasthenia gravis was possible for 13 patients. If the complete removal is limited by the growth of the tumor and by the infiltration rate, the further additional therapy--radiation therapy and polychemotherapy--will help to improve the prognosis.