Thymic carcinoma treated with intensive chemotherapy and radiation.

A 48-year old male presented with undifferentiated thymic carcinoma without distant metastasis. The patient was treated with intensive systemic chemotherapy with cisplatin, vincristine, adriamycin and etoposide, intrapleural instillation of adriamycin and OK-432, intrapericardial instillation of mitomycin C and subsequent radiation to the mediastinum. The combined treatment resulted in regression of the primary tumor and disappearance of pleural effusion and pericardial effusion. Nevertheless, the patient died 18 months after the initiation of chemotherapy.