Comparison of Radiology and Histopathology in Thymic Epithelial Tumours
Blane Gordon McMillan,
Sanjeet Avtaar Singh,
Sudeep Das De,
Alan Kirk
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2017
Pages:
7-14
Received:
24 February 2017
Accepted:
28 March 2017
Published:
17 April 2017
Abstract: Tumours of the thymus gland have a limited evidence base due to their low incidence rate. The Masaoka-Koga staging system has been known as the strongest prognostic indicator for both survival and recurrence of thymic tumours but there is no standardised way to assess clinical staging in pre-operative images. As appropriate staging can influence patients’ need for adjuvant therapy, it is important to evaluate if current imaging can accurately predict post-operative staging. This was a retrospective study comparing the pre-operative radiological staging and post-operative pathological staging of 34 patients. This was conducted at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital between March 2013 and October 2016. A Kappa statistic was used to evaluate agreement between the assessments. 61.8% (21 out of 34) of the CT stages agreed with the pathology stages: 78.6% (11 out of 14) in stage I; 41.7% (5 out of 12) in stage II; 40% (2 out of 5) in stage III; and 100% (3 out of 3) in stage IV. There was moderate agreement between the preoperative CT assessment and the post-operative pathological staging (kappa coefficient = 0.42, p value < 0.01). With further analysis of a larger sample size it could be concluded that radiological staging of thymic tumours before surgery is quite accurate but requires standardisation and utilisation of other imaging techniques to ensure appropriate levels of care.
Abstract: Tumours of the thymus gland have a limited evidence base due to their low incidence rate. The Masaoka-Koga staging system has been known as the strongest prognostic indicator for both survival and recurrence of thymic tumours but there is no standardised way to assess clinical staging in pre-operative images. As appropriate staging can influence pa...
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