There is always research going on in the area of thymic tumors. Scientists are looking for causes of thymic tumors, and doctors are working to improve treatments.
Because thymic tumors are relatively rare, more information from clinical trials is needed to decide which treatments are best for each type and stage. For example, the role of chemotherapy in treating thymomas is still being explored. In addition, new treatments are being developed and tested.
Researchers are looking for more accurate ways of predicting the aggressiveness of each tumor so that treatment can be more appropriately selected for each patient.
Newer forms of surgery may be less invasive and allow patients to recover more quickly. For example, with video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), the surgeon operates through several small incisions in the upper chest. Long, thin instruments are inserted through the incisions, including one with a small video camera on the end to allow the surgeon to see inside the body. In a similar technique, the surgeon sits at a panel and controls very precise robotic arms to do the surgery. These techniques have been used more for removing the thymus in people without cancer, such as in people with myasthenia gravis. Their role in treating thymus cancers is still being studied.
Newer forms of radiation therapy allow doctors to target tumors more precisely, focusing more radiation on the tumor and reducing side effects. For example, in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), the doctor can control the shape and intensity of the radiation beam, limiting the amount of radiation that nearby healthy tissues receive.
Removing or destroying all of the cancer cells is not the only consideration in treating patients with thymomas. Some paraneoplastic syndromes may persist even after the tumor has been treated. Researchers are studying the causes of these syndromes and the best ways to treat them.
While chemotherapy can often help shrink thymus cancers, it is not always effective and can have serious side effects. Chemotherapy drugs work by attacking rapidly growing cells, which is the main cause of their side effects. As researchers have learned more about what makes cancer cells different from normal cells, they have begun to develop drugs that target these differences. Studies are now testing targeted therapies against cancers of the thymus. These targeted therapies include anti-angiogenesis drugs (which affect tumors by limiting their blood supply) and anti-growth factor drugs (which interfere with substances some cancer cells make to stimulate their own growth). Several targeted drugs are already being used to treat other cancers, and some are now being studied for use against thymus cancers.
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