title: Microscopic thymoma and myasthenia gravis.
abstract: 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 "microscopic thymoma" is a true pathological entity and suggests that every thymus removed from myasthenic patients in which there is no macroscopic evidence of thymoma should be examined microscopically on serial sections.
authors.affiliation: University of Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Puglisi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Finato
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mariuzzi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marchini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Floretti
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Beltrami
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications*; D013945:Thymoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology