The prognosis of thymoma is relatively good after surgery and other treatments; however, tumor size is a relative risk factor. Okumura et al. reported that tumor size is an important factor affecting prognosis, and patients with thymoma larger than 5 cm in diameter have a higher risk of local recurrence.16 In contrast, Do et al. reported that tumor size and shape were key factors for tumor pleural dissemination. The mean primary tumor size of thymoma in our study patients was 8.0 cm, suggesting that larger primary tumors are more likely to have pleural metastases.17
Surgery is the main treatment modality for thymic epithelial tumors.3 Pleural metastases from thymoma are a common local recurrence pattern after postoperative/radiotherapy for thymoma.4,5 Xu et al. reported 23 recurrences after surgery for 331 thymoma cases, 14 of which were pleural metastases.4 Rimner et al. studied the post-radiotherapy pattern of stage II–IV thymoma recurrence patterns and found 34 intrathoracic recurrences after radiotherapy in 156 patients, 29 of which were pleural metastases.5 Unintentional intraoperative detection of pleural dissemination is also common. Song et al. reported that concurrent pleural metastases were found intraoperatively in 7 of 352 patients undergoing thyme tumor resection, and pleural metastases reappeared in 5 of these 7 patients.18 One of our cases also had an intraoperative finding of occult pleural metastases, and this patient was found to have multiple pleural metastatic lesions again on CT examination 4 years after surgery.
However, few studies have investigated the spatial distribution of pleural metastases. More refined zoning is necessary to study the patterns of pleural metastases in detail. Pleural zoning methods have been reported for pleural mesothelioma.19 The pleura is divided into three zones: the upper zone (from the aortic arch to the pulmonary apex), the middle zone (from the aortic arch down to the inferior pulmonary vein), and the lower zone (from the inferior pulmonary vein to the diaphragm). We borrowed this partition and combined it with the traditional pleural anatomical partition to propose a six-zone pleural scheme that helps to quantify the coordinates of pleural metastatic lesions more precisely within the partition.
The study of the first pleural metastatic lesions revealed that pleural metastases from thymoma are not uniformly distributed but have certain concentrated distribution areas. One is part of the costal pleura below the level of the aortic arch (zones III and IV) near the midline of the spine, and the other is the middle half of the diaphragmatic pleura (zone V) off the spinal side. These two regions account for nearly three-quarters of all pleural metastatic lesions. The second and third diagnoses of newly discovered pleural metastases (left and right pleural metastases, simultaneous pleural metastases, and heterochronic pleural metastases) were consistent with this pattern. This pattern may be due to the difference in pressure gradients in various parts of the pleural cavity and the direction of fluid flow in the pleural cavity. The lymphatic filterability of the pleural cavity decreases from the cephalic to the caudal side, whereas absorption is concentrated mainly on the diaphragm and mediastinal surface.20 This results in fluid flow in the pleural cavity from the cephalic side to the caudal side and from the lateral side to the spinal side. Some thymic tumor cells scattered in the pleural cavity may follow the subflow direction and finally accumulate in the concentrated areas of zones III, IV, and V. Our study suggests that this concentrated distribution pattern may provide insights for preventing pleural metastasis after thymoma surgery. In addition, these concentrated distribution areas were also the areas to focus on during follow-up.
There are no uniform standards for the treatment of pleural metastases from thymoma. A study by Bott et al. found that surgery significantly improved the survival of patients with pleural metastases from thymoma relative to non-surgical treatment, with median survival increasing from 50 to 156 months.21 Okuda et al. reported 136 patients with pleural metastases who were able to undergo macroscopic resection. Patients with resection had a longer survival time, and those with less than ten metastases had a longer survival time.22 Kimura et al. reported that patients with repeat resection had a longer survival time.8 Similar conclusions were obtained by Murakawa et al.23 Our study also found that surgical treatment was important in prolonging survival. In patients with concurrent pleural metastases, survival was higher in the surgical group (surgery/surgery + radiotherapy) than in the non-surgical group, suggesting the importance of surgical resection for concurrent pleural metastases.
Radiotherapy for localized lesions of pleural metastases from thymoma is also safe and feasible.10–12 A prospective study conducted by Wang et al. showed that intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) may be an option for patients with pleural metastases from inoperable thymoma, but multiple radiotherapy sessions may lead to radiation pneumonitis.10 Our study did not find patients benefiting from radiotherapy, which may be related to the small number of cases in this study. Triple therapy also has good efficacy for pleural metastases from thymoma, and patients can achieve longer survival times.13,14 In addition, no survival differences were observed for different subgroups based on the number of tumor metastases and subdivisions, which may be related to the small number of cases in this study.
The thymus is an immune-related organ, and autoimmune reactions occur mostly in patients with thymoma due to the role of immature immune cells in thymoma.24 A meta-analysis showed that grade 3–5 immune-related adverse events (irAEs) occur in thymoma in 58.3% of cases.25 Jing et al. reported four cases of serious adverse reactions after immunotherapy in patients with thymoma.26 Four patients in our study had immune checkpoint inhibitors applied, and two of them had more serious adverse reactions: one with immune myocarditis and one with immune-related diabetes and thyroid dysfunction.
The present study has some limitations. First, to study the distribution pattern of pleural metastatic lesions, we used the coordinates of the relative position of the aliquots within the corresponding subdivisions for the convenience of analysis and did not perform an analysis of the coordinates of the actual position, mainly due to the accessibility of the study, which led to the fact that the scattered distribution map of pleural metastatic lesions we obtained was not their actual distribution in space. Second, because this was a retrospective study and the patients failed to review their visits as scheduled, no progression-free survival (PFS) data were included in this study for analysis; therefore, the number of different pleural dissemination subdivisions could not be statistically analyzed to determine if there were differences in PFS. Third, because of the small number of cases, we only performed one-way Cox regression analysis and not multi-factor Cox regression analysis, which inevitably resulted in a one-time bias in the statistics. Follow-up studies are expected to address these deficiencies.
In conclusion, this study indicated that the distribution of pleural metastatic lesions exhibited a non-uniform pattern, primarily concentrated on the spinal aspect below the aortic arch of the costal pleura and the spinal aspect of the diaphragmatic pleura. Furthermore, surgical intervention is crucial in patients with pleural metastases from thymoma. Further investigations are necessary to explore preventive measures in areas with a high incidence of pleural metastasis from thymoma.