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Treatment

Patients should be hospitalized in preparation for surgery to remove the thymoma. They are highly invasive and difficult to remove in dogs. (They are easier to remove in cats.) Dogs with concurrent myasthenia gravis and aspiration pneumonia will have a poorer prognosis despite surgical resection. Twenty to thirty percent of thymomas are malignant and spread throughout the chest and/or abdomen.

Living and Management

If the tumor is completely surgically resectable (and has not spread), the patient will be cured.  Your veterinarian will schedule follow-up appointments every three months with you to retake thoracic x-rays of your pet in case the tumor should recur.