Abstract
A case of thymoma with hemoptysis and secondary pneumonia required differential diagnosis from primary lung cancer. The patient was a 53-year-old man with complaints of chest pain and hemoptysis. A chest X-ray showed pneumonia-like infiltration in the left upper lobe. About two weeks later, a mass was seen in the anterior mediastinum on chest X-ray as the pneumonia-like density diminished. Although mediastinal tumor invading the lung was suspect-ed, primary lung cancer could not be ruled out by chest X-ray and CT scan. An operative exploration revealed a tumor originating in the left lobe of the thymus with invasion of the pericardium, left phrenic nerve, and left lung. Maximal thymectomy and resection of organs invaded by the tumor were performed. The histological diagnosis was thymoma of the predominantly epithelial cell type.
