Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age
Thymoma is a rare neoplasm of the anterior mediastinum, which originates from the epithelium of the thymic gland; it occurs mainly in middle-aged adults and is much less common in children. The tumor has slow growth and is asymptomatic in most pediatric cases, thus resulting in an accidental discove...
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doaj-2889b1aa2a93447ba270a8d1a74135b52021-07-31T04:38:34ZengElsevierRadiology Case Reports1930-04332021-09-0116925792585Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric ageCarmela Brillantino, MD0Eugenio Rossi, MD1Rocco Minelli, MD2Delfina Bifano, MD3Diana Baldari, MD4Paolo Pizzicato, MD5Raffaele Zeccolini, MD6Massimo Zeccolini, MD7Unit of Radiology and Ultrasound, A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon, Pausilipon Hospital, Naples, ItalyUnit of Radiology and Ultrasound, A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon, Pausilipon Hospital, Naples, ItalyDepartment Life and Health ''V. Tiberio'', University of Molise, Francesco De Sanctis st 1, 86100, Campobasso, Italy; Corresponding author.Unit of Pathological Anatomy, A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon, Pausilipon Hospital, Naples, ItalyUnit of Radiology and Ultrasound, A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon, Pausilipon Hospital, Naples, ItalyDepartment of Radiodiagnology, Federico II University, Naples, ItalyLuigi Vanvitelli University, Naples, ItalyUnit of Radiology, A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon, Santobono Hospital, Naples, ItalyThymoma is a rare neoplasm of the anterior mediastinum, which originates from the epithelium of the thymic gland; it occurs mainly in middle-aged adults and is much less common in children. The tumor has slow growth and is asymptomatic in most pediatric cases, thus resulting in an accidental discovery; one-third of the young patient presents symptoms related to the compression of the tumor mass on the surrounding anatomic structures and/or related to paraneoplastic syndromes. Surgery is the treatment of choice and complete resection of the thymoma achieves excellent long-term results in terms of disease-free survival. In this article, we report the clinical case of a 21-month-old girl who came to our observation for persistent cough for over a month investigated with a chest X-ray, performed in another hospital. The X-ray showed an extensive opacification of the left hemithorax with contralateral dislocation of the mediastinum. The instrumental investigations carried out in our hospital (ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance of the chest) showed a voluminous expansive mass of the left antero-superior mediastinum, which occupied the entire ipsilateral hemithorax and not dissociable from the thymus. At the histologic examination, the mass resulted to be a B1 thymoma with a low degree of malignancy according to the histologic classification of thymic tumors of the World Health Organization.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1930043321004143PediatricsThymomaMediastinal massTrue thymic hyperplasiaUltrasoundCT |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Carmela Brillantino, MD Eugenio Rossi, MD Rocco Minelli, MD Delfina Bifano, MD Diana Baldari, MD Paolo Pizzicato, MD Raffaele Zeccolini, MD Massimo Zeccolini, MD |
spellingShingle |
Carmela Brillantino, MD Eugenio Rossi, MD Rocco Minelli, MD Delfina Bifano, MD Diana Baldari, MD Paolo Pizzicato, MD Raffaele Zeccolini, MD Massimo Zeccolini, MD Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age Radiology Case Reports Pediatrics Thymoma Mediastinal mass True thymic hyperplasia Ultrasound CT |
author_facet |
Carmela Brillantino, MD Eugenio Rossi, MD Rocco Minelli, MD Delfina Bifano, MD Diana Baldari, MD Paolo Pizzicato, MD Raffaele Zeccolini, MD Massimo Zeccolini, MD |
author_sort |
Carmela Brillantino, MD |
title |
Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age |
title_short |
Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age |
title_full |
Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age |
title_fullStr |
Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mediastinal thymoma: A difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age |
title_sort |
mediastinal thymoma: a difficult diagnosis in the pediatric age |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Radiology Case Reports |
issn |
1930-0433 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
Thymoma is a rare neoplasm of the anterior mediastinum, which originates from the epithelium of the thymic gland; it occurs mainly in middle-aged adults and is much less common in children. The tumor has slow growth and is asymptomatic in most pediatric cases, thus resulting in an accidental discovery; one-third of the young patient presents symptoms related to the compression of the tumor mass on the surrounding anatomic structures and/or related to paraneoplastic syndromes. Surgery is the treatment of choice and complete resection of the thymoma achieves excellent long-term results in terms of disease-free survival. In this article, we report the clinical case of a 21-month-old girl who came to our observation for persistent cough for over a month investigated with a chest X-ray, performed in another hospital. The X-ray showed an extensive opacification of the left hemithorax with contralateral dislocation of the mediastinum. The instrumental investigations carried out in our hospital (ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance of the chest) showed a voluminous expansive mass of the left antero-superior mediastinum, which occupied the entire ipsilateral hemithorax and not dissociable from the thymus. At the histologic examination, the mass resulted to be a B1 thymoma with a low degree of malignancy according to the histologic classification of thymic tumors of the World Health Organization. |
topic |
Pediatrics Thymoma Mediastinal mass True thymic hyperplasia Ultrasound CT |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1930043321004143 |
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