The Masaoka staging system is commonly adopted for thymomas 1-3, and is the most important determinant of survival following surgical resection 4:
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stage I: intact thymic capsule
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stage II: capsular invasion into adjacent mediastinal fat or pleura
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stage III: macroscopic invasion into adjacent organs, vessels
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stage IV
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IVa: dissemination in thoracic cavity (i.e. pleural or pericardial implants)
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IVb: distant metastases
Stage II and above are regarded as thymic carcinoma 2.
- 1. Truong MT, Sabloff BS, Gladish GW et-al. Invasive thymoma. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2003;181 (6): 1504. doi:10.2214/ajr.181.6.1811504 - Pubmed citation
- 2. Wilkins KB, Sheikh E, Green R et-al. Clinical and pathologic predictors of survival in patients with thymoma. Ann. Surg. 1999;230 (4): 562-72. Free text at pubmed - Pubmed citation
- 3. Lee HS, Kim ST, Lee J et-al. A single institutional experience of thymic epithelial tumours over 11 years: clinical features and outcome and implications for future management. Br. J. Cancer. 2007;97 (1): 22-8. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603833 - Free text at pubmed - Pubmed citation
- 4. Kim DJ, Yang WI, Choi SS et-al. Prognostic and clinical relevance of the World Health Organization schema for the classification of thymic epithelial tumors: a clinicopathologic study of 108 patients and literature review. Chest. 2005;127 (3): 755-61. doi:10.1378/chest.127.3.755 - Pubmed citation
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