Treatment modalities and prognostic factors in patients with Masaoka-Koga stage III thymoma: a single center study.

Background: Clinical stage and the ability to achieve comprehensive treatment were the prognostic features of thymoma. In the present study, we aimed to analyze the efficacy of different types of therapy in patients with Masaoka-Koga stage III thymoma. Materials and Methods: From 2001 to 2018, patients newly diagnosed with thymoma was retrospectively analyzed. The c2test was used to evaluate patient characteristics, the Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS), log-rank method was applied to examine the difference between groups, and Cox regression was used to analysis the potential prognostic factors of OS. Results: The median follow-up time was 50 months (range: 3-221 months), and median OS was 51 (range: 3-221) months. The radical surgery group had a significantly better OS than the palliative surgery group. The 5-year, 10-year OS were 88.2%, 74.4% in the radical surgery group, whereas the 5-year, 10-year OS were 51.8% and 32.4% in the palliative group. The 5-year OS in surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy group was higher than that of surgery alone group (82.8% vs 55.8%, P=0.033); similarly, the 10-year OS of the two groups were 64.2% and, 50.2%, respectively (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that age < 50 years (HR [hazard ratio]: 0.264), radical resection (HR:0.134, P=0.000), and surgery combined with radiotherapy (HR:2.778, P=0.009) were independently associated with better OS. Conclusion: In Masaoka-Koga stage III thymoma, patients treated with radical surgery was capable of achieving better OS than patients treated with palliative surgery. Moreover, radical surgery was an independent factor of prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]