Prognostic Factor for Survival in Patients with Advanced Thymic Carcinoma

Background Thymic carcinoma is a rare cancer that represents an incidence of 0.15 per 100,000 persons per year. Thus, clinical characteristics and prognostic factors have not been investigated in detail. In this study, we tried to elucidate the disease profiles, outcomes, and prognostic factors for survival among patients with advanced thymic carcinoma treated with palliative-intent chemotherapy. Patients and methods This study was a retrospective review of medical records of 38 patients treated with palliative-intent chemotherapy for advanced thymic carcinoma between 1991 and 2011. Clinical demographics, histology, overall survival, and factors expected to predict survival were analyzed. Differences in survival were assessed using Kaplan-Meier analysis and uni- and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses. Results The study included 20 males (52.6%) and 18 females (47.4%). The median age at diagnosis was 59.5 years. The most common metastatic sites at diagnosis were lung (44.7%), liver (15.8%), lymph nodes (15.8%), bone (13.2%), and brain (5.7%). The most common histological subtypes were squamous cell carcinoma (73.7%), followed by neuroendocrine carcinoma (15.8%), and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (7.9%). The median survival time was 25.4 months. Overall survival rates at 1- and 2-years were 73.6% and 52.6%, respectively. In univariate and multivariate analyses, the only favorable prognostic factor for overall survival was response to first-line chemotherapy (p = 0.009). Conclusion Response to first-line chemotherapy may be a prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with advanced thymic carcinoma. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.