Common and rare carcinomas of the thymus

Roden, Anja C.; Szołkowska, Małgorzata

doi:10.1007/s00428-020-03000-6

Cited by 7 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Generally, most of the histotypes such as squamous or mucoepidermoid are morphological (at histology and immunohistochemistry) to the counterpart of another organ. Therefore, searching for a clinical-radiological correlation and for immunomarkers of thymic origin is mandatory to exclude mediastinal metastases from cancers of other sites [35]. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common histotype of thymic carcinoma accounting for 70-80% of all TC, similar to what emerged from our case series [2, 34,36].…”

Section: Thymic Carcinomasupporting

confidence: 73%

The Rarest of Rare Thymic Lesions: A 10-Year Surgical Pathology Experience

Calabrese

Fortarezza

Pezzuto

et al. 2021

Cancers

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The thymus is a specialized primary lymphoid organ located in the midline pre-vascular mediastinum. The organ is the site of various pathological processes, neoplastic and not, whose rarity has not allowed in-depth studies on clinical or histological features of rarest and unusual variants. Herein, we report a 10-year Padova experience in the surgical pathology of the thymus, focusing on the pathological description of nonneoplastic lesions and rare epithelial and mesenchymal tumors recorded in our database, which comprises over 600 thymectomies. The extrapolated rare cases have been categorized into four groups that included 15 cysts, 18 carcinomas, 5 neuroendocrine tumors, and 2 soft tissue tumors. The cases are described from a clinical and pathological point of view and discussed in dedicated sections with a review of the most important literature. In this case, review series, we aim to update the epidemiology of these rare entities, improve diagnostic awareness, and finally, promote a collaborative network between referral centers.

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Section: Thymic Carcinomasupporting

confidence: 73%

The Rarest of Rare Thymic Lesions: A 10-Year Surgical Pathology Experience

Calabrese

Fortarezza

Pezzuto

et al. 2021

Cancers

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“…Importantly, in the differential from thymic carcinoma, type B3 cells are CD5‐ and CD117‐negative, with rarely at most focal expression of GLUT1 and MUC1, 44 and also negative for CD20, which is typically positive in thymoma type A. Conversely, positivity for CD5, CD117, GLUT‐1, Muc1, or a combination thereof is typical of thymic squamous carcinomas, although these are neither completely sensitive nor entirely specific 44‐47 . Recently, it has been shown that proteasome subunit beta5t may be a good marker in the distinction between thymic carcinoma (negative) and B3 thymomas (positive), and in combination with Muc1 (positive in carcinomas) has been shown to reach impressive sensitivities and specificities 45,47‐49 . Moreover, including TdT in a panel also containing BAP1, MTAP (both of which can be lost in thymic carcinoma), and CD117 (using a cutoff of >10% tumour cell expression for carcinomas) may be useful in the distinction between thymomas and thymic carcinomas 50 .…”

Section: Type B3 Thymomamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like other carcinomas, they tend to occur in a slightly higher age group than thymomas (median age 54–65.5 years), but with a broad age range (12–96 years old) and a male predominance 52,90‐97 . They are usually invasive, with an aggressive course of disease, and often present at advanced stages (most patients presenting at TNM stage III, IVA, or IVB, with lymph node metastases in 1/3 at presentation), with a median time to death (3 years) considerably shorter than in thymomas 48,89‐92,97 . Paraneoplastic/autoimmune diseases are rarely seen in patients with thymic carcinomas (1.5%–2%), setting them apart for thymomas 99‐101 .…”

Section: Thymic Carcinomasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By far the commonest subtype of thymic carcinoma has squamous cell characteristics (70% of all thymic carcinoma cases; Figure 5). It is typified by invasive atypical squamous tumour cells that grow in nests, lack lobular growth, and may be keratinizing or non‐keratinizing 48,104,106 . Their polygonal tumour cells have round to oval nuclei with open chromatin and sometimes conspicuous nucleoli.…”

Section: Thymic Carcinomasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thymic epithelial tumours: histopathological classification and differential diagnosis

von der Thüsen

2023

Histopathology

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The epithelial and lymphoid compartments of the thymus can give rise to a wide variety of tumours, including thymomas, thymic carcinomas, lymphoreticular proliferations, germ cell tumours, and sarcomas. While some of these have close similarity to their counterparts in other organs, both in terms of histology and immunohistochemistry, as well as molecular features, others are unique to the thymus. The epithelial tumours, which can develop in the thymus, will be discussed in this review, with a particular emphasis on resolving differential diagnosis by means of morphology, immunohistochemical profiles, and molecular diagnostics.

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“…These tumors share morphological and immunophenotypic features with squamous cell cancers of the lung, which constitute approximately 20% of all non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) ( 1 , 4 ). Although clinical and radiological features along with morphologic and immunophenotypic findings ( 2 ) can help to distinguish between thymic carcinomas and NSCLCs, in some cases it can be difficult to make a distinction between these tumors. Nevertheless, it is important to distinguish between thymic carcinoma and NSCLC due to differences in the clinical presentation, natural history, and management of these diseases.…”

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confidence: 99%