Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma of Lung , Adenocarcinoma , Lung Neoplasms , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary , Thymoma , Thymus Neoplasms , Humans , Thymoma/diagnostic imaging , Thymoma/surgery , Adenocarcinoma/diagnostic imaging , Adenocarcinoma/surgery , Lung Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Lung Neoplasms/surgery , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Thymus Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Thymus Neoplasms/surgery , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary/diagnosis , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary/surgery , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary/pathologyABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Thymic tumors including thymomas, thymic carcinomas, and thymic carcinoid tumors are rare tumors with an incidence of 0.13/100,000. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was performed to identify recent findings on epidemiology, classification, and various therapeutic approaches. RESULTS: These tumors with a wide spectrum of histologic and biologic features may be clinically unapparent for a long time or show a very aggressive behavior with local invasion and distant metastases. Surgical resection is the mainstay in stage I and II thymomas, whereas in stage III thymomas and in thymomas with pleural dissemination surgery in context of a multimodal treatment should be discussed. Thymic tumors are chemoreactive. Targeted therapies show poor results and should only be considered in the palliative situation after failure of chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: The new TNM (T: tumor, N: node, M: metastasis) classification of thymic tumors will help to identify the best treatment options.
Subject(s)
Carcinoid Tumor/pathology , Carcinoma/pathology , Thymoma/pathology , Thymus Neoplasms/pathology , Carcinoid Tumor/diagnosis , Carcinoid Tumor/surgery , Carcinoma/diagnosis , Carcinoma/surgery , Combined Modality Therapy , Diagnosis, Differential , Humans , Neoplasm Staging , Prognosis , Thymectomy , Thymoma/diagnosis , Thymoma/surgery , Thymus Gland/pathology , Thymus Neoplasms/diagnosis , Thymus Neoplasms/surgeryABSTRACT
Thymic carcinoma is a rare but aggressive epithelial neoplasm with a strong propensity for early local invasion and widespread metastasis. It is common for thymic carcinomas to invade the lungs, pericardium, and great vessels. However, invasion of thymic carcinoma into the right atrium, right ventricle, mediastinum, and superior vena cava is very rare. There have been sporadic reports on intracardiac thymic carcinomas globally and only one case report in South Korea to date. We herein report a case of intracardiac thymic carcinoma presenting as right-sided heart failure with congestive hepatopathy.
