Epidemiological Trends and Survival Outcomes for Thymic Epithelial Tumours: An Australian Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Thymic epithelial tumours (TETs) represent a heterogenous group of relatively uncommon lesions which have varied disease behaviour. There is limited literature on the epidemiology and survival outcomes of these tumours in an Australian context.

Method: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with TETs in the Australian state of Queensland between 2000 and 2021, recruited via the Queensland Oncology Repository.

Results: Four hundred and ninety-seven (497) patients were identified, with a significant increase in the incidence of TETs over the study period. The 5-year overall survival for the full study cohort was 80.7%, declining to 67.1% at 10 years. Disease-specific survival was higher at 87.1% by 5 years, and 79.3% at 10 years. The majority of patients underwent upfront surgical resection, with a trend towards better survival.

Conclusions: Survival outcomes to 5 years and beyond are generally favourable, particularly for patients with less histologically aggressive lesions. Patients treated surgically, either with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiotherapy, had favourable survival and disease control compared to patients receiving definitive intent chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.