Massive Thymic Hyperplasia Masquerading as Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

A 34-year-old woman presenting with abdominal pain, chest pressure, weight loss, and tachycardia was found to have an 11.4-cm anterior mediastinal mass associated with intrathoracic lymphadenopathy on chest computed tomography (Fig. 1A). Core needle biopsy was concerning for a type B1 thymoma.During this patient’s initial workup, she was found to have both clinical and laboratory evidence of Graves’ thyroiditis, raising diagnostic suspicion for thymic hyperplasia rather than thymoma. The case discussed here highlights the unique challenges that arise in the evaluation and management of thymic masses and serves as a prudent reminder that both benign and malignant disorders may present with mass-like changes.

Keywords

• Thymic mass
• Thymic hyperplasia
• Thymoma
• Thymectomy
• Graves’ thyroiditis
• Case report