A case of thymoma arising from undescended thymus

Abstract

We present an unusual case of a cervical thymoma arising from an undescended thymus, which showed a remarkable accumulation of Thallium-201 Chloride on scintigraphy.

Carcinomas arising in multilocular thymic cysts of the neck: a clinicopathological study of three cases

“…The existence of lesions showing remnants of thymic epithelium in the head and neck area is well known 2–16 . Lesions considered to have an indolent behaviour include thymic cysts and ectopic hamartomatous thymoma.…”

“…The existence of lesions showing remnants of thymic epithelium in the head and neck area is well known. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Lesions considered to have an indolent behaviour include thymic cysts and ectopic hamartomatous thymoma. In the latter, the patients may present clinically with a painless neck mass, which on resection shows a mixture of tissues including remnants of thymic epithelium, adipose tissue, and a solid spindle cell component.…”

“…Unusual variants of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck are also known to occur; however, for the most part these tumours occur as solid tumour masses in the neck region 1 . In addition, the neck area can also harbour other unusual benign and malignant lesions 2–16 . Here we present three cases of carcinoma, one of squamous cell type and two basaloid carcinomas arising in the neck from the wall of multilocular thymic cysts (MTC) in three adult individuals without any mediastinal or thyroid connection.…”

“…1 In addition, the neck area can also harbour other unusual benign and malignant lesions. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Here we present three cases of carcinoma, one of squamous cell type and two basaloid carcinomas arising in the neck from the wall of multilocular thymic cysts (MTC) in three adult individuals without any mediastinal or thyroid connection. In addition, none of the patients had a previous history of a head and neck cancer, nor was any other tumour found during clinical evaluation.…”

Ectopic thymic tissue in the paediatric age group

“…Defective pathways of embryologic descent of thymic primordia may lead to a clinical spectrum of anomalies of the thymus. There have been reports of various pathologies (3, 4, 8, 14). Nowak et al (10) described variable combinations of cystic and solid thymus such as accessory cervical thymus (sequestration and failure of involution), cervical thymic cyst, completely undescended cervical thymus, persistent thymopharyngeal duct, persistent thymic cord directly attached to the mediastinal thymus, cervical extension of mediastinal thymus or ectopic thymus not in the usual pattern of the gland's descent.…”