Type A and type AB thymoma are the indolent end of thymoma, tumours of the thymus gland made of spindle-shaped epithelial cells (type A) or mixed with lymphocyte-rich areas (type AB), mostly in older adults and driven by a GTF2I mutation. Nine in ten are found at an early stage and almost none come back after complete surgery, so surgery alone is usually the whole treatment. Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Type A and type AB thymoma says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Complete resection; postoperative radiotherapy for incomplete resection or stage III as on the parent page; systemic therapy rarely needed.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.