2017 Volume 31 Issue 6 Pages 815-822
Thymoma often leads to complications such as autoimmune disease, and symptoms of autoimmune disease are sometimes observed in patients even after thymothymectomy. Here, we encountered a case of aplastic anemia after thymothymectomy. A 73-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital for the treatment of an anterior mediastinal tumor. We performed thymothymectomy by median sternotomy. Histopathological findings showed type B1 thymoma when classified according to the World Health Organization system, and stage I thymoma when classified according to the Masaoka system. Six months after the surgery, the patient had pneumonia, and her hemogram showed pancytopenia; however, it had been normal before surgery. Puncture of the bone marrow showed the presence of fatty marrow, a cell density of 10-20%, and a myeloid/erythroid ratio of more than five. The patient was diagnosed with a very severe grade of aplastic anemia. Cyclosporine and supportive therapy were administered. However, the patient died of multiple organ failure 4 months after the onset of aplastic anemia.
The occurrence of aplastic anemia after thymothymectomy is a very rare complication. However, this complication is likely to be fatal since the patient becomes immunocompromised. Therefore, it is important to be careful regarding not only the recurrence of thymoma in the patient, but also the occurrence of autoimmune disease during follow-up after thymothymectomy.
