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Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1995 Jul;48(7):682–683. doi: 10.1136/jcp.48.7.682

Microscopic thymoma and myasthenia gravis.

F Puglisi 1, N Finato 1, L Mariuzzi 1, C Marchini 1, G Floretti 1, C A Beltrami 1
PMCID: PMC502727  PMID: 7560183

Abstract

A rare case of microscopically sized thymoma is described in a 56 year old man suffering from myasthenia gravis. Histological examination of the surgically removed thymus showed the presence of several epithelial thymoma-like islands. As controls, 100 thymuses obtained from consecutive necropsies were sampled: 4% of these cases showed epithelial islands. This case is further proof that "microscopic thymoma" is a true pathological entity and suggests that every thymus removed from myasthenic patients in which there is no macroscopic evidence of thymoma should be examined microscopically on serial sections.

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Selected References

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