Thymic tumors

INTRODUCTION Thymic malignancies are rare mediastinal tumors with an incidence of 0.15 per 100,000 person-years.1 They comprise thymomas and thymic carcinomas, which have been only recently differentiated. Studies on thymic malignancies date back to early 70s and are based upon case series or retrospective monoinstitutional reviews. Until recently, progress in research and management in thymic malignancies have been relatively slow as compared to other neoplasms. Nonetheless, the fi rst decade of the third millennium has witnessed a tremendous momentum in the study of thymic malignancies which may be summarized in one single word: International collaboration.