Copyright
©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 16, 2021; 9(5): 1139-1147
Published online Feb 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i5.1139
Published online Feb 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i5.1139
Pembrolizumab as a novel therapeutic option for patients with refractory thymic epithelial tumor: A case report
Jonathan Wong-Chong, Maureen Bernadach, Xavier Durando, Département d’Oncologie Médicale, Centre Jean PERRIN, Clermont-Ferrand 63011, France
Jonathan Wong-Chong, Xavier Durando, UFR Médecine, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand 63011, France
Maureen Bernadach, Angeline Ginzac, Hugo Veyssière, Xavier Durando, Division de Recherche Clinique, Délégation Recherche Clinique et Innovation, Centre Jean PERRIN, Clermont-Ferrand 63011, France
Maureen Bernadach, Angeline Ginzac, Hugo Veyssière, Xavier Durando, INSERM, U1240 Imagerie Moléculaire et Stratégies Théranostiques, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand 63011, France
Maureen Bernadach, Xavier Durando, Centre d’Investigation Clinique, UMR501, Clermont-Ferrand 63011, France
Author contributions: Wong-Chong J, Bernadach M, and Durando X were involved in the patient’s case management; Wong-Chong J designed and wrote the report; Bernadach M and Durando X were responsible for revising the manuscript for important intellectual content; Ginzac A and Veyssière H were responsible for the manuscript layout and submission; all authors read and approved the final manuscript and were involved in the review and editing of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare having no conflicts of interest in relation to this case or its publication.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hugo Veyssière, Division de Recherche Clinique, Délégation Recherche Clinique et Innovation, Centre Jean PERRIN, 58 rue Montalembert, Clermont-Ferrand 63011, France. hugo.veyssiere@clermont.unicancer.fr
Received: October 26, 2020
Peer-review started: October 26, 2020
First decision: November 3, 2020
Revised: November 12, 2020
Accepted: November 21, 2020
Article in press: November 21, 2020
Published online: February 16, 2021
Peer-review started: October 26, 2020
First decision: November 3, 2020
Revised: November 12, 2020
Accepted: November 21, 2020
Article in press: November 21, 2020
Published online: February 16, 2021
Core Tip
Core Tip: Thymic epithelial carcinomas are rare and have poor prognosis. The overall 5-year survival rate for patients with thymic carcinoma is about 30%-50%. We present the case of a 45-year-old Caucasian male who presented with hepatalgia and a cervical mass, and was diagnosed with programmed death-ligand 1-negative metastatic thymic carcinoma. The patient underwent pretreatment with platinum-based chemotherapy, after which pembrolizumab was administered as salvage therapy and complete metabolic response was achieved.