[Radiotherapy of thymomas].

For ten years radiotherapy has had a role in the diminution of local and regional recurrence post-operatively in thymomas. The therapy was for a long time empirical, but today radiotherapy is more standardised: there is a consensus on the methodology of the trajectory and on the optimal doses (50 to 60 gy in 6/7 weeks) according to the volume of tumour remaining. In numerous recent retrospective trials it is apparent that the overall level of survival at 5 years is 46 to 66%. Since 1982 the study group of thymic tumours (GETT) has carried out a prospective trial. It has adopted the same surgical and anatomical classification (table 5) and the same radiotherapy and chemotherapy protocol.