Tumours of Thymus are rare. So clinical data is usually spare. Hence they do not feature prominently in International conferences.

So it is interesting and a welcome gesture that ESMO dedicated a morning session to Thymic tumours. (ESMO European Society of Medical Oncology Congress-2024, Fira Barcelona).

Understandably, in a conference hall meant for thousands of delegates only a few hundreds turned up for the rare thymic tumours ( as delegates attended the 12 other massive halls with simultaneous sessions for common cancers such as prostate, breast , bowel etc).

The relevant updates from this session are: 

1. Surgical resection where feasible is the best treatment.
2. in selected cases , post-operative radiotherapy can be considered 
3. Routine adjuvant chemotherapy after complete surgical excision for early cancers is NOT indicated 
4. Thymic cancers are chemo-sensitive and they have the potential to turn inoperable cancers to operable cancers.
5. Platinum and Anthracycline combination chemo regimens have the best response rates.
6. Immunotherapy and Molecular targeted therapy are possible options in those resistant to platinum drugs in addition to other non-platinum chemotherapy drugs .

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