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Tiny thymic carcinoma completely surrounded by thymic tissue

The possibility of de novo carcinoma

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Abstract

We report a case of a 61-year-old man with a tiny thymic carcinoma completely surrounded by thymic tissue. First, a thoracoscopic resection of about two-thirds of the right inferior part of the thymus containing the tumor was performed to obtain the histological diagnosis. Frozen-section diagnosis at operation revealed a thymic carcinoma. Therefore we performed a median sternotomy and resected the remnant of the thymus. A tiny thymic carcinoma completely surrounded by thymic tissue is extremely rare. In this case, as the tumor was tiny and there was a homogeneous mass without a thymoma-like component, we concluded that this tumor was de novo.

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Kitami, A., Suzuki, T., Suzuki, S. et al. Tiny thymic carcinoma completely surrounded by thymic tissue. Jpn J Thorac Caridovasc Surg 48, 670–672 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03218227

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03218227

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