Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jan 10:3:330.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2013.00330.

Radiotherapy for thymic carcinoma: adjuvant, inductive, and definitive

Ritsuko Komaki  1 , Daniel R Gomez  1
Affiliations
Review

Radiotherapy for thymic carcinoma: adjuvant, inductive, and definitive

Ritsuko Komaki et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Although historically thymoma and thymic carcinoma have been treated surgically, radiation therapy also has an important role, either as postoperative therapy to reduce the risk of mediastinal recurrence or as part of definitive treatment for patients who cannot undergo surgery. Induction chemotherapy and molecular targeted agents may also be appropriate for thymic carcinoma, the behavior of which resembles non-small-cell lung carcinoma more than that of thymoma or invasive thymoma and is increasingly being treated like lung cancer. We present here a review of current therapies for thymic malignancies and briefly discuss the potential benefits from novel technologies for such treatment.

Keywords: cardiac toxicity; concurrent chemoradiation therapy; postoperative radiation therapy; proton therapy; tumor histology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Falkson CB, Bezjak A, Darling G, Gregg R, Malthaner R, Maziak DE, et al. Lung cancer disease site group of cancer care Ontario’s Program in evidence-based care. The management of thymoma: a systematic review and practice guideline. J Thorac Oncol (2009) 4:911–910.1097/JTO.0b013e3181a4b8e0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Okereke IC, Kesler KA, Morad MH, Mi D, Rieger KM, Birdas TJ, et al. Prognostic indicators after surgery for thymoma. Ann Thorac Surg (2010) 89:1071–7 discussion 7–9,10.1016/j.athoracsur.2010.01.026 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wright CD, Choi NC, Wain JC, Mathisen DJ, Lynch TJ, Fidias P. Induction chemoradiotherapy followed by resection for locally advanced Masaoka stage III and IVA thymic tumors. Ann Thorac Surg (2008) 85:385–910.1016/j.athoracsur.2007.08.051 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shin DM, Walsh GL, Komaki R, Putnam JB, Nesbitt J, Ro JY, et al. A multidisciplinary approach to therapy for unresectable malignant thymoma. Ann Intern Med (1998) 129:100–410.7326/0003-4819-129-2-199807150-00006 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Venuta F, Rendina EA, Pescarmona EO, De Giacomo T, Vegna ML, Fazi P, et al. Multimodality treatment of thymoma: a prospective study. Ann Thorac Surg (1997) 64:1585–91 discussion 91–2,10.1016/S0003-4975(97)00629-2 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources