THYMUS-RELATED LIPOSARCOMA - REPORT OF A CASE AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

We report herein the case of a 77-year-old woman who was admitted to o ur hospital for further evaluation of an abnormal shadow in the right upper mediastinum that had been revealed by a routine chest X-ray. Com puted tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans confi rmed the presence of a thymic tumor, but did not show any evidence of invasion into the central vessels or adjacent structures. Thus, an ext ended thymectomy with resection of the tumor was performed. Microscopi cally, normal thymic tissue was found among the tumor cells, and a pat hological diagnosis of well-differentiated liposarcoma was established . From the operative and microscopic findings, it is apparent that the tumor was related to the thymus. Postoperative irradiation of 60 Gy w as delivered to the operative site and the patient has remained free o f disease for 29 months since the operation.