Chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel after failure of primary chemotherapy for advanced thymic carcinoma. A report of three cases and review of the literature. Issue 4 (July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Watanabe, Keisuke; Shinkai, Masaharu; Goto, Hideto; Yoshikawa, Sumiko; Yamaguchi, Nobuhiro; Hara, Yuu; Shinoda, Masahiro; Moriyama, Yusuke; Rubin, Bruce K; Ishigatsubo, Yoshiaki; Kaneko, Takeshi
• Is Part Of: Tumori. Volume 99:Issue 4(2013)
• Page Start: e172
• Page End: e176
• Publication Date: 2013-07
• Subjects: thymic carcinoma -- second-line chemotherapy -- carboplatin -- paclitaxel; Cancer -- Periodicals; 616.994
• DOI: 10.1177/030089161309900428
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0300-8916

Abstract

For patients with inoperable thymic carcinoma, multidrug chemotherapy containing cisplatin and an anthracycline is often used as first-line chemotherapy. A commonly applied regimen is cisplatin + doxorubicin + vincristine + cyclophosphamide (ADOC). There are relatively few reports on the use of carboplatin and paclitaxel as first-line chemotherapy for thymic carcinoma. In addition, little is known about its efficacy as second-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced thymic carcinoma. We here report on three patients with thymic carcinoma who were treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel as second-line chemotherapy after failure of ADOC. According to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1, one patient achieved a partial response and two patients achieved stable disease. The median progression-free survival was 6.7 months and the median overall survival exceeded 3 years. Toxicities were well tolerated. Chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel appears to be effective as second-line chemotherapy for some persons with thymic carcinoma who fail ADOC.