Langerhans' cell histiocytosis of the thymus associated with multilocular thymic cyst

Though Langerhans' cells are a normal component of the thymus, the patholog ic entity of Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH) occurs very uncommonly in this organ. The few reports of thymic LCH are nearly all in children or yo ung adults and may or may not be associated with extrathymic clinical disea se. Although radiographic descriptions of cyst formation in the thymus in a ssociation with LCH have been reported, no examples to our knowledge of thy mic LCH have been reported in association with multilocular thymic cyst (MT C), We report a case of thymic LCH in association with an asymptomatic mult ilocular thymic cyst which tvas discovered as part of cardiothoracic surger y in a middle-aged man. To our knowledge, this is the first example of MTC occurring in association with thymic LCH. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunde rs Company.