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Thvmomas and thvmic carcinomas
Author(s) -
ENGEL PETER,
PILSGAARD BO,
FRANCIS DORTHE
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1995.tb01421.x
Subject(s) - confusion , thymoma , medicine , medullary cavity , pathology , psychology , psychoanalysis
The morphological heterogeneity of thymomas has caused much confusion respecting their classification. Recently Kirchner & Müuller‐Hermelink (4) proposed a histological subclassification which has been claimed to represent an independent prognostic factor: medullary and mixed thymomas are benign; organoid and cortical type as well as well‐differentiated thymic carcinomas are low‐grade malignant tumors, which have the capacity to recur and spread, even if they are clinically benign. High‐grade malignant thymomas are always malignant. We present the clinicopathological data on 10 clinically benign and 14 clinically malignant thymomas. Having reclassified the thymomas, we found four low‐grade malignant examples among the clinically benign thymomas. It is important to identify this group of patients as they are at risk of tumor recurrence. However, further investigation is needed to support the validity of this subclassification system.