Background The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term outcome of superior vena cava (SVC) replacement after chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for advanced thymoma. Methods The medical information of patients with advanced thymoma who underwent thymoma resection and SVC replacement in Beijing Tongren Hospital from 2002 to 2017 were reviewed. We compared surgical outcomes, postoperative complications and long-term prognosis in the chemoradiotherapy + surgery group (CRT + surgery group, 19 cases) and the surgery group (26 cases). Results The operation time (486.05 +/- 148.01 vs. 370.77 +/- 124.32 min; p = 0.007) and intraoperative blood loss (1400 ml [IQR 1125-2105 ml] vs. 855 ml [IQR 555-1682.5 ml], p = 0.036), poor wound healing (three cases [15.79%] vs. zero cases [0.0%], p = 0.036) in the CRT + surgery group were significantly higher than those of the surgery group. There was no significant difference between the CRT + surgery group and the surgery group in postoperative chest tube drainage time, hospitalization time, postoperative arrhythmia and incidence of pneumonia. Kaplan Meier analysis showed that the recurrence-free survival (RFS) curves of the CRT + surgery group patients were better than those of the surgery group (p = 0.031). However, overall survival (OS) between the two groups was not significantly different (p = 0.069). Conclusions Thymoma resection and SVC replacement is feasible for patients undergoing preoperative induction chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for advanced thymoma. Although patients in the CRT + surgery group had a longer operation time and increased intraoperative bleeding, the RFS rate seemed to be better than that in the surgery group.