A case of recurrent invasive thymic cancer showing a stable disease to carboplatin plus paclitaxel]

A 56-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of increasing chest discomfort and abnormal chest shadow. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest revealed an anterior mediastinal mass, pleural dissemination and lung metastasis. Percutaneus needle biopsy guided by CT showed that the mass was advanced thymic cancer (stage IV b according to the classification proposed by Masaoka). After failure of combination chemotherapy of cisplatin, vincristine, doxorubicin and etoposide (CODE), he received 4 cycles of carboplatin plus paclitaxel and then achieved confirmed stable disease. In terms of toxicity profile, grade 4 anemia, grade 2 leucopenia and neutropenia were observed, and particularly non-severe toxicity was not observed in terms of non-hematologic toxicity. Carboplatin plus paclitaxel can be an active agent against pretreated thymic cancer.