Table 4. Landmark studies reporting on palliative chemotherapy regimens in advanced thymic malignancies

	Primary chemotherapy regimen	Subjects n	Tumour		Design	Response rate	Subsequent treatment
			Type	Stage			Surgery		Radiotherapy	None
							Patients	Complete resection
Chemotherapy
Macchiarini [78]	CEE	7	T/TC	III	Phase II	100	100	57	0	0
Berruti [79]	ADOC	6	T	III–IVA	Phase II	83	NR	17	NR	NR
Rea [80]	ADOC	16	T	III–IVA	Retrosp	100	100	69	0	0
Berruti [81]	ADOC	16	T	III–IVA	Phase II	81	56	56	31	13
Venuta [82]	CEE	15	T/TC	III	Retrosp	66	100	NR	NR	NR
Bretti [83]	ADOC/PE	25	T/TC	III–IVA	Retrosp	72	68	44	NR	NR
Kim [74]	CAPP	22	T	III/IVA	Phase II	77	100	72	0	0
Lucchi [84]	CEE	36	T/TC	III–IVA	Retrosp	67	69	78	19	3
Jacot [85]	CAP	5	T/TC	III–IVA	Retrosp	75	38	25	50	12
Yokoi [86]	CAMP	14	T/TC	III, IV	Retrosp	93	64	14	14	21
Kunitoh [87]	CODE	21	T	III	Phase II	62	62	43	24	14
Park [88]	DDP-Docetaxel	27	T/TC	III/IV	Phase II	63	70	63	4	25
Chemoradiation
Loehrer [72]	CAP/54 Gy	23	T/TC	III–IVA	Phase II	70	0	0	0	100
Wright [37]	PE, ADOC, CAP, CEE/45–60 Gy	10	T/TC	III–IVA	Retrosp	40	100	80	0	0

Data are presented as %, unless otherwise stated. CEE: cisplatin, epirubicin and etoposide; ADOC: adriamycin, cisplatin, vincristine and cyclophosphamide; PE: platin and etoposide; CAP: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and cisplatin; CAPP: CAP and prednisone; CAMP: cisplatin, adriamycin and methylprednisolone; CODE: cisplatin, vincristine, adriamycin and etoposid; DDP: cisplatin; T: thymoma; TC: thymic carcinoma; Retrosp: retrospective; NR: not reported.