Chemotherapy with paclitaxel plus carboplatin for relapsed advanced thymic carcinoma

Objective: For rarity of thymic carcinoma, no definitive chemotherapeutic regimen has been established in second- or further-line settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of paclitaxel plus carboplatin in advanced thymic carcinoma as second- or further-line treatment in our institute. Methods: We evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel plus carboplatin as salvage therapy in 12 patients with previously treated advanced thymic carcinoma from 2005 to 2012 in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. Survival analysis was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Twelve patients were included in current study. Four patients achieved stable disease (SD), and three achieved partial response (PR), representing a response rate of 25.0% and disease control rate (DCR) of 58.3%. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.5 and 24.0 months, respectively. The toxicities associated with the paclitaxel plus carboplatin was generally acceptable. Conclusions: Paclitaxel plus carboplatin appears to have some activity against thymic carcinoma as second-line or later chemotherapy in advanced thymic carcinoma.