Thymoma history and symptoms

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Amr Marawan, M.D. [2]

Signs and symptoms

Symptoms related to compression

30% of patients with a thymoma have symptoms caused by compression of the surrounding organs, these symptoms may include:

• Facial swelling (due to compression of the upper caval vein)
• Dysphagia (due to compression of the esophagus)
• Cough and wheezing (due to compression of the trachea)
• Chest pain (due to local compression of the mass itself)

Sympotms related to associated autoimmune diseases

30% of patients have their tumors discovered because they have an associated autoimmune disorder, these symptoms may inculde:

• Muscle weakness (associated with myasthenia gravis and polymyositis)
• Anemia (associated with pure red cell aplasia)
• Fever, chest pain, cough and malaise (associated with Good's syndrome, agranulocytosis, combined immunodeficiency, hypogammaglobulinemia and acute pericarditis) )
• Arthralgia and rash (associated with polymyositis, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus)

• Anexity, diarrhea and palpitation (associcated with thyroiditis and ulcerative colitis)

Lack of symptoms

33% to 50% of patients with thymoma have no symptoms at all, and the mass is identified on a chest X-ray performed for an unrelated problem.

List of autoimmune diseases associated

Type	Diseases
Neuromuscular Diseases	Myasthenia gravis, neuromyotonia, rippling muscle disease, polymyositis/dermatomyositis, encephalitis (limbic, cortical and brain stem), intestinal pseudoobstruction.
Haematologic Autoimmune Diseases	Anemia: pure red cell aplasia, pernicious anemia, hemolytic anemia and aplastic anemia. Other isolated cytopenis: esinophils, basophils and neutrophils. Immunodeficiencies: hypogammaglobulinaemia +/- T-cell deficiencies (Good syndrome).
Dermatologic Diseases	Pemphigus (foliaceus or paraneoplastic), lichen planus, alopecia areata.
Endocrine Disorders	Addison disease, graves disease and Cushing disease.
Renal and Hepatic Diseases	Glomerulonephritis and autoimmune hepatitis.
Systemic Autoimmune Diseases	SLE, Sjögren syndrome, systemic sclerosis and graft-versus-host-disease.

References

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