The clinical features, diagnosis and management of recurrent thymoma

Thymoma is a disease with malignant potential, which has a recurrence rate after complete resection ranging from 5 to 50 %. Multiple studies on the risk factors, treatment or prognosis have been reported. Many of them are controversial, however. In this review, we summarized some accepted risk factors, means of diagnosis and different treatments of recurrent thymoma. The risk factors of recurrent thymoma haven't been well-studied, and its management remains controversial. We reviewed the literatures and found some key points which should be noticed during the surgery of initial thymoma. Although reoperation should be taken into account preferentially, multimodal treatments are also available. The prognosis are also been discussed.