A case of ectopic cervical thymoma

Abstract

An ectopic thymoma occurring in the neck is rare. We herein report a case of ectopic cervical thymoma. The patient was a 53-year-old woman who visited our hospital with a complaint of an anterior cervical mass found during a medical examination. Cervical ultrasonography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 40 × 30 × 50 mm anterior cervical mass located caudal to the left lobe of the thyroid. Malignant lymphoma or Castleman's disease was suspected according to the fine-needle aspiration cytology findings. The patient underwent wedge resection of the tumor, resulting in a histopathological diagnosis of thymoma. Subsequently, we performed total resection of the thymoma. Thymoma sometimes behaves as a malignant tumor by invading the surrounding stroma or disseminating to distant organs. Ectopic cervical thymoma should be treated as a potentially malignant tumor. Complete resection of the tumor is required for the curative treatment of ectopic cervical thymoma. Because a preoperative diagnosis of ectopic cervical thymoma is difficult, it should be borne in mind that thymomas can occur in the neck.