Doctors are working to learn more about thymoma, ways to prevent it, how to best treat it, and how to provide the best care to people diagnosed with this disease. The following areas of research may include new options for patients through clinical trials [2]. Always talk with your doctor about the diagnostic and treatment options best for you.

New drugs. Researchers are currently studying several new treatments and treatment methods for patients with thymoma and thymic carcinoma. For patients with advanced thymoma or thymic carcinoma, several new drugs are being studied in clinical trials, including amrubicin, IMC-A12 (cixutumumab), octreotide (Sandostatin), PHA-848125AC, and PXD101 (belinostat).

Different combinations of treatments. For patients with advanced thymoma or thymic carcinoma that has not been previously treated, researchers are looking at combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy before surgery, and combining chemotherapy with cetuximab (Erbitux) before surgery to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and to make surgery possible for people with advanced tumors.

Cancer vaccines [3]. Cancer vaccines are treatments that help a person's immune system fight cancer. For thymoma, researchers are studying the effectiveness of an experimental vaccine combined with the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide (Neosar) and the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (Celebrex).

Myasthenia gravis research. Studies are underway to learn more about this condition (see Overview [4]), its link with thymoma, and approaches to treatment.

Supportive care. Clinical trials are underway to find better ways of reducing symptoms and side effects of current thymoma treatments in order to improve patients' comfort and quality of life.

Learn more about common statistical terms used in cancer research [5].

To find clinical trials specific to your diagnosis, talk with your doctor or search online clinical trial databases now [6].