Introduction
Thymomas are very rare neoplasms in children and they represent less
than 1% of mediastinal tumours in a paediatric population [1].
Majority of literature presents single case studies with only few
national or international reports and one SEER analysis performed in
2013 [2-9]. As in adults, thymic tumours in children may be
asymptomatic or present with compressive or respiratory symptoms.
Classification (WHO) and staging system (Masaoka-Koga) are the same as
in adult tumours but there are only few studies on the treatment of
thymic neoplasms in paediatric population [4,6-12] (Table 1 and 2).
Treatment for these tumours often requires a combination of modalities,
including chemotherapy (CTH),
radiotherapy (RTH) and surgery,
based on tumour histology and extent of disease [4]. Due to the
rarity of thymic tumours in children it is impossible to conduct
prospective clinical trials. For this reason retrospective studies like
this represent the only way to collect experience.
The aim of our study was to assess the long term treatment results of
pediatric patients with thymic tumours in a single institution during
the period of 35 years.