Prognosis Assessment in Thymic Tumors: A Single-center Experience

OBJECTIVE This study's objective is to assess the effectiveness of treatment and the prognostic factors that affect survival in 28 patients with epithelial thymic tumors who had adjuvant or definitive radiotherapy (RT) at our facility. METHODS The study comprised 28 patients who received RT at the Radiation Oncology Department of Eskisehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine between 2010 and 2021. Each patient received RT (3DCRT/ IMRT/VMAT). RESULTS The median overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and progression-free survival (PFS) at a median follow-up of 74 months were 76 (3-201), 29, and 57 (0-198) months, respectively. The median RT dose was 50 Gy (44-66). While there was no statistically significant difference between DFS and RT doses (p=0.88), there was a statistically significant difference between PFS and OS and 50 Gy and higher doses (p=0.03 vs. p=0.02). CONCLUSION Post-operative RT has been proven to be beneficial in cases of incomplete resection, even if the role of adjuvant RT in patients with complete resection remains debatable. It is well established that pri-mary unresectable thymic tumors can be treated safely and successfully with neoadjuvant or definitive chemoradiotherapy.