肺科恶性肿瘤TNM分期分类的第8版引入了一个适用于所有类型的胸腺上皮肿瘤（TET）的肿瘤、淋巴结、转移（TNM）系统。国际肺癌研究协会胸腺分期和预后因素委员会的胸腺领域，由多学科的国际专家组成，负责制定第9版的建议。本文概述了T、N和M分量的建议定义，以及它们如何组合成分期组。借助世界各地主要胸腺组织的贡献，建立了拥有11,347名TET患者的大型中央数据库，并对T、N、M分量和分期组进行了分析。对于完全和不完全切除肿瘤的患者，以总体生存率为结果指标，对于完全切除的患者，以复发率为结果。当患者数量足够时，分别针对胸腺瘤、胸腺癌和神经内分泌胸腺肿瘤进行分析。肿瘤大小包括在T1类中，分为T1a（≤ 5cm）和T1b（> 5cm）;冠状肺膜作为T描述符被删除; 肺部或膈神经侵犯被重新分类为T2（而不是T3）。第8版的N和M分量没有提出变化的建议。分期组保持不变。TNM分类第9版的建议变化为未来这些罕见肿瘤的进一步发展奠定了基础。版权所有 © 2023. Elsevier Inc. 发表。

A tumor, node, metastasis (TNM)-based system for all types of thymic epithelial tumors (TET) was introduced in the 8th edition of the TNM classification of thoracic malignancies. The Thymic Domain of the Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, composed of multispecialty international experts, was charged to develop proposals for the 9th edition. This article outlines the proposed definitions for the T, the N and the M components, and their combination into stage groups.A large central database of 11,347 patients with TET was assembled thanks to the contribution of the major thymic organizations worldwide and analyses were carried out for the T, the N, and the M components and the stage groups. Overall survival was the outcome measure for patients with completely and incompletely resected tumors, and recurrence, for those with complete resection. When the number of patients was sufficient, analyses were performed separately for thymomas, thymic carcinomas and neuroendocrine thymic tumors.Tumor size is included in the T1 category as T1a (≤ 5cm) and T1b (>5 cm); the mediastinal pleura is dropped as a T descriptor; invasion of the lung or phrenic nerve is reclassified as T2 (instead of T3). No changes are proposed for the N and the M components from the 8th edition. The stage groups remain the same.The proposed changes for the 9th edition of the TNM classification sets the stage for further progress in the future for these rare tumors.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.