Thymic papillary adenocarcinoma coexisting with type A thymoma: A case report

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijscr.2019.03.039Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Thymic papillary adenocarcinoma is extremely rare.

  • Further, thymic papillary adenocarcinoma coexisting with type A thymoma is extremely rare.

  • Surgery remains the only effective treatment for this disease.

  • We performed minimally invasive VATS approach.

Abstract

Introduction

Thymic papillary adenocarcinoma is rare. Further, thymic papillary adenocarcinoma coexisting with type A thymoma is extremely rare. Surgery remains the only effective treatment for this disease.

Presentation of Case

An 84-year-old Japanese woman presented to our institute due to abnormal chest computed tomography (CT) findings showing a 45 × 40 × 40-mm tumor located in the anterior mediastinum. A malignant tumor was suspected based on the CT findings and high serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen. Mediastinal tumor resection was performed via video-assisted thoracic surgery through the left thoracic approach. This patient was discharged from our institute without any problems at six days post-operation.

Discussion

This report has three major implications. First, one of the tumors was papillary adenocarcinoma. Primary papillary adenocarcinoma of the thymus is exceedingly rare. Second, papillary adenocarcinoma and type A thymoma coexisted in this tumor. Third, epithelial thymic tumor should be resected completely, since complete resection has been reported to be associated with an improved prognosis.

Conclusion

We encountered a rare case of thymic papillary adenocarcinoma coexisting with type A thymoma.

Abbreviations

CT
computed tomography
VATS
video-assisted thoracic surgery

Keywords

Mediastinal tumor
Thymic carcinoma
Thymoma

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