title: Thymoma associated with hypogammaglobulinaemia and pure red cell aplasia.
abstract: Thymomas are neoplasias that begin in the thymus and develop in the anterior mediastinum. They are commonly associated with a variety of systemic and autoimmune disorders, such as pure red cell aplasia, hypogammaglobulinaemia, pancytopaenia, collagen diseases, and, most commonly, myasthenia gravis. The presence of inter-current infections, especially diarrhoea and pneumonia, in the presence of lymphocyte B depletion and hypogammaglobulinaemia is known as Good's syndrome and may affect up to 5% of patients with thymoma. While anaemia is present in 50%-86% of patients with Good's syndrome, only 41.9% of cases present pure red cell aplasia. Concomitance of these two conditions has only been rarely studied. We report on the case of a 55-year-old man diagnosed with advanced thymoma, who, during the progression of his disease, developed signs and symptoms suggesting Good's syndrome and pure red cell aplasia. We also performed a brief review of the literature concerning this association, its clinical characteristics, and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile 8330024.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Briones
authors.forename: Mirentxu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iruretagoyena
authors.forename: Héctor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Galindo
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zoroquiain
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valbuena
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Acevedo
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ocqueteau
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sánchez
keywords: hypogammaglobulinaemia; pure red cell aplasia; thymoma