The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 42, 331-333, Copyright © 1986 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Inflammatory pseudotumor of the thymus
N Harpaz, AR Gribetz, DJ Krellenstein and AM Marchevsky
A 44-year-old man with inflammatory pseudotumor of the thymus is reported.
The patient was seen with fever, myalgia, and dyspnea and was found to have
an anterior mediastinal mass and bilateral pleural effusions. The resected
lesion consisted of a well-circumscribed mass of chronic inflammatory and
fibrous tissue that virtually replaced the thymus. There was no
morphological evidence of neoplasia. The patient's symptoms and
roentgenographic abnormalities resolved with excision of most of the mass.
To our knowledge, this report is the first instance of inflammatory
pseudotumor of the thymus.