Metaplastic thymoma is a rare primary thymic epithelial tumor, and its biologic behavior is uncertain. We report 7 cases of metaplastic thymoma. The spindle components of the tumor seemed to be undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which is characterized by the loss of E-cadherin expression. Epstein-Barr virus seemed not to have an etiologic role in metaplastic thymoma. No gross genetic...

We report a case of a 72-year-old woman who initially presented with symptoms of bulbar myasthenia and was positive for anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies. She subsequently developed painful muscle spasms, myoclonus, and stiffness. Thymoma was detected, and both anti-glycine receptor and anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies were found. She was diagnosed with thymoma-associated progre...

Thymomas are rare neoplasm arising in thymic epithelial cells and are the most common neoplasm in the anterior mediastinum. Although thymomas are often associated with autoimmune diseases, the incidence of extra-thymic neoplasia is higher in patients with thymoma than in the general population.1 Published series have focused on the incidence of both extra-thymic malignancies detected after and ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether or not patients with completely resected Masaoka stage II thymoma benefit from postoperative radiotherapy (RT). METHODS We retrospectively review the case records and compared the long-term outcomes of patients affected by Masaoka stage II thymoma treated by resection alone with same stage thymoma patients submitted to resection and RT. Surgical specimens were r...

BACKGROUND Surgery remains the mainstay of treatment for thymic epithelial tumors, and radiation and chemotherapy also have been applied widely as adjuvant and palliative procedures. METHODS We compiled records of 1,320 patients with thymic epithelial tumors who were treated from 1990 to 1994 in 115 institutes certified as special institutes for general thoracic surgery by The Japanese Associ...

RATIONALE Nephropathy with concurrent invasive thymoma is a type of paraneoplastic syndrome. PATIENT CONCERNS AND DIAGNOSES We report a 32-year-old female with nephrotic syndrome that was first diagnosed along with invasive thymoma and treated by means of cisplatin-based chemotherapy for the thymoma. The patient initially presented with dyspnea and generalized edema. Chest radiography and com...

Micronodular thymoma is a rare subtype of thymoma with less than 20 cases published in the English literature. These tumours have been reported with thymoma or thymic cyst. The authors describe a new case of micronodular thymoma in a 68-year-old-patient which is well documented and particular by its cystic degeneration which hasn’t been described yet. Micronodular thymoma is a rare variant of t...

The presence of five discrete synchronous or metachronous primary neoplasms in a single patient is an extremely rare event. This is a report of a patient with a malignant (invasive) thymoma and four other independent primary neoplasms including: gliosarcoma, papillary thyroid cancer, meningioma and metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon, found synchronously at autopsy. Thymoma patients appear t...

A rare case of microscopically sized thymoma is described in a 56 year old man suffering from myasthenia gravis. Histological examination of the surgically removed thymus showed the presence of several epithelial thymoma-like islands. As controls, 100 thymuses obtained from consecutive necropsies were sampled: 4% of these cases showed epithelial islands. This case is further proof that "microsc...

Thymomas are one of the most common neoplasms of the mediastinum derived from thymic epithelium. It is common that invasive thymoma invades the lung, pericardium, and great vessels. Airway compression by mass effect also occurs, but direct polypoid tumor growth into the airway is extremely rare. Only 20 cases of invasive thymoma with endobronchial polypoid growth have previously been reported g...