A Rare Case of Primary Thymic Adenocarcinoma Mimicking Small Cell Lung Cancer

• Published in: Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases Vol. 78; no. 2; pp. 112 - 119
• Main Authors: Cho, Eun Na, Park, Hye Sung, Kim, Tae Hoon, Byun, Min Kwang, Kim, Hyung Jung, Ahn, Chul Min, Chang, Yoon Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 01.04.2015; 대한결핵및호흡기학회
• Subjects: Case Report; 내과학; Adenocarcinoma; Concurrent Chemoradiotherapies; Thymus
• ISSN: 1738-3536; 2005-6184
• DOI: 10.4046/trd.2015.78.2.112

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.