title: A rare case of primary thymic adenocarcinoma mimicking small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Primary thymic adenocarcinoma is a very rare malignancy of the anterior mediastinum with no standardized treatment. A 36-year-old male patient presented with hoarseness over the past 3 months. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed an infiltrative mass to the proximal vessels and aortic arch in left upper mediastinum (4.1×3.1×5.4 cm). Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed focal lesions, suggesting metastasis in the left frontal lobe. A thoracoscopic biopsy of the mediastinal mass confirmed a primary thymic adenocarcinoma forming a glandular structure with atypia of tumor cells. The patient received four cycles of systemic chemotherapy, consisting of etoposide and cisplatin, with concurrent radiotherapy (6,000 cGy/30 fractions) to the mediastinal lesion and the metastatic brain lesion (4,200 cGy/12 fractions). A follow-up chest CT scan and brain MRI showed a decrease in the size of the left upper mediastinal mass and brain lesion. We report a rare case of the primary thymic adenocarcinoma with a literature review.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Eun Na
authors: EN
authors: Cho
authors: Department of Pathology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Hye Sung
authors: HS
authors: Park
authors: Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Tae Hoon
authors: TH
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Min Kwang
authors: MK
authors: Byun
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Hyung Jung
authors: HJ
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Chul Min
authors: CM
authors: Ahn
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Yoon Soo
authors: YS
authors: Chang
keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Concurrent Chemoradiotherapies; Thymus