2004 Volume 18 Issue 7 Pages 810-815
A 44-year-old woman had a thymolipoma that was monitored for two and a half years during the postoperative followup for breast cancer. She was admitted to our hospital, because the thymolipoma did not seem to change and the postoperative course of the breast cancer was favorable. Chest CT scan revealed a tumor measuring 4.5×3.0cm with a clear boundary and relatively uniform internal density in the anterior mediastinum with a CT number of-111HU. Chest MRI showed a hyperintense mass on both T1-and T2-weighted images. A median sternotomy was made to remove the thymus gland and thymolipoma. The tumor measured 5.5×3.0×4.5cm in size and was located in the right inferior lobe of the thymus gland. The tumor was elastic soft, and covered with a thin membrane, while its internal part was solid and uniformly yellow. The total weight of the removed thymus gland and thymolipoma was 60 g. Pathological examination revealed a solid tumor covered with a thin fibrous membrane in the thymus gland with Hassall's corpuscles and nodular hyperplasia of mature adipose tissues inside the tumor. We herein report this case along with a literature review since there were no notable changes in the chest CT for approximately two and a half years.
