Treatment of Tumours of the Thymus

The material consists of 30 cases of tumours of the thymus. Twenty-seven cases were treated surgically. Postoperative radiotherapy was administered to 16 patients. One received pre-operative radiotherapy. In 3 cases radiotherapy exclusively was used.Of 9 patients with well encapsulated tumours and no signs of invasion of the capsule all are alive up to 8 years after operation.The remaining 18 patients exhibited a more malign picture with invasive growth and unencapsulated tumours and 3 remain alive and have been followed-up for 4, 7 and 11 years.There was a prognostic correlation between the tumour's general appearance at the time of operation and the subsequent course.