This study was undertaken to determine the histopathological spectrum and clinical profile of
thymic neoplasms at a tertiary referral care centre. A total of 96
thymectomy specimens were received during the study period (1992-2004), which consisted of 54
neoplasms and 42 benign lesions. Among the
neoplasms there were 48 thymic epithelial
tumors, 3 thymolipomas and 3 thymic
carcinoids. The former comprised of 36 male (75%) and 12 female patients (25%) ranging in age from 2-70 years (mean 37 years). Among
paraneoplastic syndromes in thymic epithelial tumours, 27 out of 48 (56.25%) cases were associated with
myasthenia gravis and one case was associated with
pure red cell aplasia. The most frequent histological subtype was cortical
thymoma (43.24%) followed by predominantly cortical (24.32%) and well-differentiated
thymic carcinoma (18.92%). On staging, all cases of mixed and predominantly cortical subtype were stage 1 whereas one medullary and 2 cortical
thymomas and 4 well differentiated
thymic carcinoma (WDTC) showed pleural and pericardial invasion (stage III). This study has revealed that half of thymic epithelial tumours presented as
myasthenia gravis. The cortical
thymoma was the most frequently encountered histologic subtype and most commonly associated with
myasthenia gravis.