ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment of primary mediastinal yolk sac tumor (PMYST). MethodsWe collected the clinical data of PMYST patients who were admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from September 2000 to September 2020. The clinical and pathological characteristics, treatment and prognosis of PMYST patients were retrospectively analyzed. Results Finally 18 patients were enrolled, including 17 males and 1 female with a median age of 22.0 (16.6, 26.2) years. Patients had increased level of alpha fetoprotein (AFP). The pathological type can be single yolk sac tumor or combined with other mediastinal germ cell tumors. Chemotherapy and radical surgery were the main treatment methods. Extensive resection was feasible for patients with tumor invasion of other organs. Seven patients developed lung or pleural metastasis after operation, and 3 of them had extrapleural metastasis. One patient recurred within 1 year after surgery. All patients were followed up by telephone or outpatient department. At the last follow-up, 5 patients survived, 9 died, and 4 were lost to follow up, with a median survival of 16.8 months. The median disease-free survival was 14.9 months. The survival rates at 1, 3 and 5 years were 73.3%, 28.6% and 11.8%, respectively. ConclusionPMYST often occurs in young-middle aged male patients. Preoperative puncture can provide an effective diagnostic basis. R0 resection, AFP returning to normal after treatment and no metastasis may be potential indicators of good prognosis. The overall prognosis of PMYST is poor, and some patients can achieve long-term survival after treatment.
We report a 50-year-old man with mediastinal tumor. The patient received the thoracoscopic resection for mediastinal tumor with the operative time of 1 h and intraoperative blood loss of 10 mL. The final diagnosis after surgical excision was an ectopic papillary thyroid carcinoma. The patient recovered well without surgery-related complications, and was discharged on the 2nd day after the operation. No recurrence was found during the follow-up. We also reviewed relevant literature to explore the clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of ectopic thyroid carcinoma.
Objective To evaluate the influence of resection status, pathological type, pathological stage and postoperative adjuvant therapy on prognosis of surgically treated thymic carcinoma. Methods In this retrospective study, 56 patients with surgically treated thymic carcinoma in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2005 to December 2015 were enrolled. There were 30 males and 26 females aged 52.1±11.5 years ranging from 22 to 81 years. The survival curve was performed by Kaplan-Meier method. The prognostic factors affecting overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results R0 resection was performed in 37 patients (67.9%), and other resections in 19 (32.1%); 13 patients suffered thymic carcinoma with Masaoka stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, 26 Ⅲ, and 17 Ⅳ. Low-grade thymic carcinoma was found in 42 patients, and high-grade in 14. Postoperative radiotherapy, chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy were performed on 17, 12 and 18 patients respectively and 9 patients were untreated. Forty-one patients was followed up for 1 to 10 years, and the follow-up rate was 73%. The 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 93%, 74% and 61%, respectively. Resection status and pathological stage affected OS. Postoperative radiotherapy after R0 resection affected DFS, but did not affect OS. Conclusion Most patients with thymic carcinoma after surgery can survive for a long period, and R0 resection is the most important prognostic factor of thymic carcinoma. Postoperative radiotherapy after R0 resection in patients with Masaoka stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ is recommended.
Thymic neuroendocrine tumors (TNETs) are a series of rare diseases with aggressive biology and poor prognosis. Clinical manifestations of TNETs are atypical, and ectopic secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone can be found in some cases, resulting in associated endocrine symptoms. Due to the low morbidity and strong heterogeneity, it’s difficult to diagnose, treat and obtain new treatment regimen. Early complete surgical resection is an effective treatment. For advanced cancer, clinical trials of new drugs are expected to improve the survival of patients.
ObjectiveTo analyze the research hotspots and progress of surgical treatment of myasthenia gravis. MethodsThe top 100 most cited articles on surgical treatment of myasthenia gravis were identified by searching the Web of Science database, and a bibliometric analysis was conducted. ResultsThe publication year of the top 100 most cited articles ranged from 1939 to 2021, and the number of citations ranged from 55 to 850 per article. Most of the included articles were original research articles (75/100), which were mainly retrospective studies (64/75). The United States was the country with the most published articles and most citations, and Annals of Thoracic Surgery was the most sourced journal (n=20). Through VOSviewer analysis, high-density keywords were thymectomy, maximal thymectomy, extended thymectomy, transcervical thymectomy, thymoma, and autoantibodies. ConclusionThe scope of surgical resection, surgical approach and pathogenesis are the current hotspots in the field of surgical treatment of myasthenia gravis. It is hoped that this paper can provide references for future researches in this field.
Objective To investigate the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) syndrome caused by bronchopulmonary carcinoid. Methods Twenty patients (13 males and 7 females) with ectopic ACTH syndrome caused by bronchopulmonary carcinoid confirmed by surgical pathology were selected from March 2007 to May 2016 in our hospital. We collected and arranged the important clinical data of 20 patients and analyzed carefully. Results The mean age of 20 patients including 14 patients of typical carcinoid and 6 patients of atypical carcinoid was 38.85±15.31 years ranged 13-70 years. All patients had the typical clinical manifestation of Cushing's syndrome. All the thoracic lesions were located by thoracic computed tomography (CT) eventually. The concentration of serum cortisol and ACTH significantly decreased after surgery. Postoperative complications in 3 patients (15.00%) were severe pulmonary infection. Eighteen patients including 13 patients of typical carcinoid and 5 patients of atypical carcinoid were followed up. The median time of follow-up was 31.5 (12-122) months. There were 7 patients of stage Ⅰa, 1 patient of stage Ⅰb, 2 patients of stage Ⅱa and 8 patients of stage Ⅲa in the patients followed up. One patient underwent postoperative radiotherapy, and 4 patients with postoperative chemotherapy. During the follow-up period, one patient relapsed and there was no death. Conclusion Ectopic ACTH syndrome caused by bronchopulmonary carcinoid is a very rare disease. It is every difficult for clinicians to make early diagnosis and draw up plans of treatment without multidisciplinary collaboration. Chest CT is an important method of finding lesions and assessing the viability of surgery. Surgical treatment in early stage will be effective for this disease. And almost all of patients can achieve long-term survival after complete resection of tumors early.