No abstract

Background: Thymic epithelial tumours are rare and highly heterogeneous. Reports from the United States suggest an overall incidence of 0.15 per 100,000/year. In contrast, the incidence of these tumours in Latin America is largely unknown and reports are scarce, somewhat limited to case reports.Methods: Herein, we report a series of 38 thymic tumours from a single institution, retrospectively incorporated into this study. Patient characteristics and outcomes including age, sex, stage, paraneoplastic syndromes, treatment regimens and the date of decease were obtained from medical records.Results: Most cases in our series were females and young age (<50 years old) and early stage by Masaoka-Koga or the Moran staging systems. Also, a 34% of patients had myasthenia gravis (MG). Next, we analysed overall survival rates in our series and found that the quality of surgery (R0, R1 or R2), MG status and staging (Masaoka-Koga, Moran or TNM) were prognostic factors. Finally, we compared our data to larger thymic tumour series.Conclusions: Overall, our study confirms complete surgical resection as the standard, most effective treatment for thymic epithelial tumours. Also, the Masaoka-Koga staging system remains as a reliable prognostic factor but also the Moran staging system should be considered for thymomas.

Background: Thymic epithelial tumors are rare and highly heterogeneous. Reports from the United States suggest an overall incidence of 0.15 per 100,000/year. In contrast, the incidence of these tumors in Latin America is largely unknown and reports are scarce, somewhat limited to case reports.Methods: Herein, we report a series of 38 thymic tumors from a single institution, retrospectively incorporated into this study. Patient characteristics and outcomes including age, sex, stage, paraneoplastic syndromes, treatment regimens and the date of decease were obtained from medical records.Results: Most cases in our series were females and young age (<50 years-old) and early stage by Masaoka-Koga or the Moran staging systems. Also, a 34% of patients had myasthenia gravis (MG). Next, we analyzed overall survival (OS) rates in our series and found that the quality of surgery (R0, R1 or R2), MG status, and staging (Masaoka-Koga or Moran) were prognostic factors. Finally, we compared our data to larger thymic tumor series.Conclusions: Overall, our study confirms complete surgical resection as the standard, most effective treatment for thymic epithelial tumors. Also, the Masaoka-Koga staging system remains as a reliable prognostic factor but also the Moran staging system should be considered for thymomas.

Surgery for pulmonary tuberculosis. Review of 33 operated patients Background: Surgical treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis is mainly limited to the management of sequelae such as bronchiectasis, hemoptysis and brochopleural fistulae. Aim: To review the data of patients who underwent surgical treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. Material and methods: Retrospective review of 33 patients aged 18 to 73 years (24 males) who underwent lung resection surgery for the management of pulmonary tuberculosis. Follow-up data were obtained from outpatient visit records and registries of the national tuberculosis program. Results: The reasons to perform surgery were the following: fifteen for hemoptysis, nine for lung destruction and nine for an active and multiresistant disease. No patient died in the postoperative period. The morbidity observed included empyema (n =5), pneumothorax (n =2), bronchopleural fistula (n =2) and hemothorax (n =2). At six months of follow up, six of the nine patients with active tuberculosis had negative acid-fast bacilli on sputum smear. Two of these patients died, one due to respiratory failure and another by an unrelated cause. Both dead patients had negative acidfast bacilli on sputum smear. Conclusions: Surgery in pulmonary tuberculosis has a high rate of complications but may be useful in selected patients (Rev Méd Chile 2009; 137: 234-9).