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Vol.52 No.2 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
A Case of Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Thymus
Takaaki Arimura1, Takao Sakaizawa1, Keisuke Ozawa1, Hideki Nishimura11Department of Respiratory Surgery, Nagano Municipal Hospital, Japan
Background. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma commonly occurs in the salivary glands, and mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus is extremely rare. Case. A 52-year-old man had an abnormal shadow pointed out on a CT scan of the chest (anterior mediastinum) in 2004. However, he did not receive any therapy. In 2009, an abnormal shadow was observed on a chest X-ray film. The tumor was diagnosed as mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus by needle biopsy. The patient underwent resection via a median sternotomy followed by radiation therapy. However, despite complete resection, the tumor metastasized to the ribs, near to the spinal column. Therefore, the patient was treated with systemic chemotherapy and radiation, but he died of tumor progression 29 months after the initial resection. Conclusion. We encountered a rare case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus.
key words: Mediastinal tumor, Thymic cancer, Mucoepidermoid carcinoma
Received: August 18, 2011
Accepted: February 20, 2012
JJLC 52 (2): 226-231, 2012
