Anterior mediastinal tumors: Diagnostic accuracy of CT and MRI

Clinical features, diagnosis and thoracoscopic surgical treatment of thymic cysts

“…Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered superior to CT scans for cystic lesions in the thymus. Tomiyama et al (13) reported that correct diagnosis rates for CT and MRI for thymic cysts were 46.0% and 71.0% (P<0.05), respectively. MRI may be better in some certain circumstances, such as for a thymic cyst with hemorrhage or inflammation, which mimics a solid tumor.…”

“…In the process of clinical diagnosis, the thymic cyst should be differentiated from a thymoma, lymphoma in the thymus, thymic hyperplasia, or cystic teratoma. The chest CT is equal or superior to MRI in the diagnosis of anterior mediastinal masses (13). There is a consensus that the chest CT is a reliable, cost-effective, and appropriate diagnostic tool for thymic tumors according to the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) (14).…”

Evaluation of anterior mediastinal solid tumors by CT perfusion: a preliminary study

“…In lymphoma, CT may show irregular contours, surface lobulation without vascular invasion with associated mediastinal lymphadenopathy and pleural effusion (2,13). In general, differentiation of lymphoma from other thymic lesions, particularly thymoma, is difficult on the basis of imaging findings alone, and diagnosis may require invasive procedures (15).…”

Precision medicine in myasthenia graves: begin from the data precision

“…Although CT scan is considered as the main screening tools for thymoma, with high sensitivity and specificity, thymic hyperplasia is sometimes misdiagnosed as thymoma solely on CT imaging, while small thymoma beyond the resolution of imaging might be missed (15). MRI does not add the sensitivity in the screening of thymoma (16). Moreover, new thymus abnormality could be found several years after the initial negative CT scan (17).…”