Microscopic thymoma and myasthenia gravis.
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.
Puglisi
F
F
University of Udine, Italy.
Finato
N
N
Mariuzzi
L
L
Marchini
C
C
Floretti
G
G
Beltrami
C A
CA
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