title: Thymoma associated with pure red-cell aplasia: clinical features and prognosis.
abstract: As information on the clinical features and prognosis of thymoma complicated by pure red-cell aplasia is limited, follow-up data on thymoma patients who had a thymectomy between 1954 and 1999 were analyzed retrospectively. Six of 166 cases were complicated by pure red-cell aplasia. In 3 of these, the pure red-cell aplasia appeared after surgical intervention. Remission was observed in 2 patients who underwent extended thymectomy. The other 4 patients subsequently died from pure red-cell aplasia. The outcome in patients with pure red-cell aplasia was poorer than that in the entire group of patients with thymoma and in those with thymoma complicated by myasthenia gravis. The possible onset of pure red-cell aplasia after thymectomy should be kept in mind during follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. murakawa-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakawa
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takamoto
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukayama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012010:Red-Cell Aplasia, Pure / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013934:Thymectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D013945:Thymoma / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome