• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.319-324
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• 2021

Robotic thymectomy has been adopted recently and has been shown to be safe and feasible in treating thymic tumors and myasthenia gravis. The surgical indications of robotic technology are expanding, with advantages including an excellent surgical view and sophisticated manipulation. Herein, we describe technical aspects, considerations, and outcomes of robotic thymectomy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.689-694
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• 1994

A retrospective analysis was performed on 36 patients with primary cysts and tumors of the mediastinum seen at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Maryknoll Hospital from January 1983 to December 1993. There were 21 female and 15 male patients in the study. Ages ranges from 2 years to 72 years, with a mean of 34.7. There were 9 malignant tumors and 27 benign tumors.Thymic neoplasms were the most common. For the whole series, 29 of the patients had tumors in the anterior mediastinum. There appears to be an in6rease in tumors in the anterior compartment. There were 30 symptomatic patients in our series. Of the patients with malignant disease, 89 % were symptomatic. All of benign tumors were completely removed and malignant tumors were treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy after operation. There were 9[27.3 %] postoperative complications. There was no postoperative mortality. Follow-up was available on 27 patients. There was no recurrence, malignant degeneration, or growth of any tumor. It is hoped that careful evaluation and aggressive treatment of mediastinal tumors will continue to provide improvement in the prognosis for these patients.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.563-570
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• 1983

For the purpose of evaluation of clinical characteristics and histopathological properties in mediastinal tumors, 130 patients with mediastinal tumors treated during the period from 1958 to 1982 were reviewed. Cancers of unidentified primary site of origin, nonneoplastic lesions and the cases with clinical diagnosis only were excluded from this report. There were 69 males and 61 females, and their ages ranged from 2 months to 66 years, with the average age of 31.3 years. 19.2% of patients were younger than 15 years of age. The most frequently encountered tumors were teratodermoids, followed by neurogenic tumors, thymic tumors, benign cysts, malignant lymphomas and miscellaneous tumors in order of decreasing frequency. 75.4% of the mediastinal tumors were benign and 24.6% were malignant. 16.6% of the patients were asymptomatic at admission. There were 2 postoperative deaths with 1.7% of operative mortality rate, and 2 other deaths who were not operated upon, showing overall hospital mortality rate of 3.1%. Postoperative follow up was possible in 84 cases, and there were 4 late deaths.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.425-429
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• 1997

Until 1972, many carcinoid tumors of the thymus were not recognized as distinct lesions and were mistakenly labeled as variants of thymomas. Thymic carcinoid tumors are unusual neoplasms that show different morphological, functional, and behavioral characteristics than those of thymomas. We report a case of a 65-year-old woman with thymic carcinoid tumor. The clinicopathological findings are discussed with a review of the literature.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2010

Primary anterior mediastinal neoplasms comprise a diverse group of tumors and account for 50% of all mediastinal masses. Thymic epithelial neoplasm are most common and classified into thymoma, invasive thymoma, and thymic carcinoma. Neuroendocrine differentiation of thymic epithelial neoplasm are rare malignancies. Germ cell tumor (GCT) is second most common anterior mediastinal tumor and most of them are mature cystic teratoma. Malignant mediastinal GCT are rare than benign. Primary thoracic lymphoma is rare than thoracic involvement of systemic lymphoma and most common location of primary thoracic lymphoma is anterior mediastinum. The clinical and radiologic appearance of the most common masses are reviewed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6469-6475
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• 2015

Background: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) makes it possible to detect malignant tumors based on the diffusion of water molecules. It is uncertain whether DWI is more useful than positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) for distinguishing benign from malignant mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. Materials and Methods: Sixteen malignant mediastinal tumors (thymomas 7, thymic cancers 3, malignant lymphomas 3, malignant germ cell tumors 2, and thymic carcinoid 1) and 12 benign mediastinal tumors or mass lesions were assessed in this study. DWI and PET-CT were performed before biopsy or surgery. Results: The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value ($1.51{\pm}0.46{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of malignant mediastinal tumors was significantly lower than that ($2.96{\pm}0.86{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of benign mediastinal tumors and mass lesions (P<0.0001). Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) ($11.30{\pm}11.22$) of malignant mediastinal tumors was significantly higher than that ($2.53{\pm}3.92$) of benign mediastinal tumors and mass lesions (P=0.0159). Using the optimal cutoff value (OCV) $2.21{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$ for ADC and 2.93 for SUVmax, the sensitivity (100%) by DWI was not significantly higher than that (93.8%) by PET-CT for malignant mediastinal tumors. The specificity (83.3%) by DWI was not significantly higher than that (66.7%) for benign mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. The accuracy (92.9%) by DWI was not significantly higher than that (82.1%) by PET-CT for mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between diagnostic capability of DWI and that of PET-CT for distinguishing mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. DWI is useful in distinguishing benign from malignant mediastinal tumors and mass lesions.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.39-42
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• 2004

Thymolipoma is a rare benign mediastinal tumor, composed of mature fatty and thymic tissues. A 9-year-old boy was referred with a one-month history of neck swelling. Preoperative computed tomography scan and fine needle aspiration biopsy suggested thymolipoma. Despite it being rare, thymolipoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of mediastinal tumors. Characteristics of its clinical feature and radiological findings that can differentiated it from other mediastinal tumors are discussed with a review of the literatures.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2005

Carcinoid tumors of the thymus are vanishingly rare, and the characteristic cytologic findings of this condition have never before been reported in Korea. Recently, we encountered a 58-year-old woman who had been suffering from general weakness and weight loss for several months. Radiological imaging revealed a large anterior mediastinal mass. A fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of the mass showed predominantly scattered single cells, as well as some loose clusters of small cells with scanty cytoplasm. Some of these small cells exhibited plasmacytoid features, with moderately granular cytoplasm. We also discuss the cytological differential diagnosis between thymic carcinoid and other mediastinal tumors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.420-424
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• 2019

Atypical thymic carcinoid is an extremely rare tumor with a poor prognosis. In addition to its known association with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, its hallmark characteristics include local invasion and early distant metastasis. In this report, we share our experience treating atypical thymic carcinoid in a patient with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.301-305
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• 1980

Myasthenia gravis is a disorder that affects neuromuscular transmission in a way that is still poorly understood. some think that myasthenia gravis results from a reduction of available acetylcholine receptors in neuromuscular junctions, consequent to some form of autoimmune injury. Surgical interest in this disease was first aroused in 1939 when Blalock observed that some patients with thymic tumors and myasthenia gravis improved following thymectomy. This report represents two cases of myasthenia gravis. The 14-year-old girl was admitted to Korea Universtiy Hospital with chief complaintment of bilateral ptosis, diplopia, swallowing difficulty, and mastication difficulty, which were relieved by administration of edrophonium (Tensilon) chloride, given intravenously. Myasthenica gravis was confirmed and thymectomy was given. After thymectomy, symptoms were relieved but the administration of neostigmine was contijued to be needed till following 3 months. After that period, she was free from this symptoms without anticholinesterase drugs. Second case is 57 year old male who has the symptoms of diplopia, bilatreal ptosis, walking disturbance, and speech difficulty. He had thymectomy too but in thymic tissue, malignant thymoma was included. He has subjective improvement only, with no major reduction of medication requirements after thymectomy.