Thymic carcinoma initially presented with geographic destruction of scapula in a child

Abstract

As the conventional histopathologic examination of thymic carcinoma (TC) is nonspecific, immunohistochemical studies along with correlative radiographic investigations are needed for its correct diagnosis. TC commonly occurs in the late 5th to early 6th decades of life but is extremely rare in childhood. It may be incidentally detected from chest radiographs taken as routine or for other reasons. However, most patients present with symptoms such as chest pain, cough, shortness of breath, dysphagia and hoarseness, which are directly attributable to the mediastinal mass. Although TC frequently invades the neighboring organs, pleura and pericardium and metastasizes to the lymph nodes, liver and lung at the time of the first diagnosis, initial or late metastasis to the bone has been seldom reported in adults. Indeed, the English literature revealed no earlier report on initial bony metastasis in a child to date. We report a case of TC in a 12-year-old boy who initially presented with scapular osteolysis masquerading as a primary bone tumor to emphasize the usefulness of combined imaging for staging and histologic studies, particularly for such an unexpected case.

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