Thymoma
A thymoma is a malignant epithelial tumour most commonly found in the prevascular mediastinum. They are relatively indolent tumours with high cure rates; however, all thymomas are considered malignant. Thymic tumours are rare, although they are the most common anterior mediastinal tumours in adults, and thymomas account for the majority of thymic neoplasms.
They are intriguing tumours because of their association with a number of systemic disorders, notably myasthenia gravis, haematological cytopenias, hypogammaglobulinaemia, various collagen-vascular diseases, and non-thymic cancers, to mention only the more frequent.
About one third of thymomas are asymptomatic and identified as an incidental radiographic finding.
Reference
- Girard N, Ruffini E, Marx A, et al. Thymic epithelial tumours: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol. 2015;26(suppl 5):v40-v55.
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