-Case Reports-

Hoarseness as an Initial Symptom of Thymic Carcinoma: A Case Report

Shingo Takeuchi¹, Naoyuki Yoshino¹ and Jitsuo Usuda²

¹Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nippon Medical School Tama Nagayama Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
²Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan

A 65-year-old man was referred to our hospital for evaluation of hoarseness and deteriorating voice. Computed tomography revealed an area of poor contrast enhancement in soft tissue (size, 30 mm) in the inferior pole of the thyroid gland, extending to the upper margin of the sternum. No infiltration of blood vessels or bones, and no significant swelling of neck lymph nodes, was observed. These findings suggested a diagnosis of thymoma, thymic carcinoma, or thyroid tumor. Surgery was performed via median sternotomy, and complete thymectomy and tumor excision accompanied by partial thyroidectomy were performed. Histopathological examination revealed atypical polygonal tumor cells in a sheet-like arrangement, which formed a solid proliferative focus, and squamous cell carcinoma with infiltrative growth was diagnosed. Postoperatively, radiotherapy (60 Gy) was administered to the superior mediastinum. The patient is alive 22 months after surgery, without recurrence.

J Nippon Med Sch 2019; 86: 357-359

Keywords
hoarseness, thymic carcinoma

Correspondence to
Shingo Takeuchi, MD, PhD, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nippon Medical School Tama Nagayama Hospital, 1-7-1 Nagayama, Tama, Tokyo 206-8512, Japan
take0818@nms.ac.jp

Received, September 28, 2018
Accepted, June 26, 2019