Korean J Pathol.  2009 Dec;43(6):562-565. 10.4132/KoreanJPathol.2009.43.6.562.

Hepatoid Thymic Carcinoma: A Case Report

• Lee JH
• Kim H
• Chae YS
• Won NH
• Choi JS
• Kim CH

• KMID: 1472643
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4132/KoreanJPathol.2009.43.6.562

Abstract

We report here on a rare case of hepatoid thymic carcinoma in a 34-year-old man. The patient complained of a high fever and headache, and a 6.6cm-sized anterior mediastinal mass was found on chest computed tomography (CT). There was no hepatic mass seen on abdominal CT. The resected mass consisted of epithelioid cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, pleomorphic vesicular nuclei and prominent nucleoli, and the mass was surrounded by thymic tissue. The tumor cells were immunopositive for cytokeratin 7, alpha-1-antitrypsin, hepatocyte staining, and epithelial membrane antigen, but they were negative for CD5, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and placental alkaline phosphatase, and this all led to a diagnosis of hepatoid thymic carcinoma rather than hepatoid yolk sac tumor. This entity should be included in the differential diagnosis of epithelioid thymic tumors.

Keyword

Thymus; Thymus neoplasms; Carcinoma, hepatocellular

MeSH Terms

Adult
Alkaline Phosphatase
alpha-Fetoproteins
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
Cytoplasm
Diagnosis, Differential
Endodermal Sinus Tumor
Eosinophils
Epithelioid Cells
Fever
Headache
Hepatocytes
Humans
Keratin-7
Mucin-1
Thorax
Thymoma
Thymus Gland
Thymus Neoplasms
Alkaline Phosphatase
Keratin-7
Mucin-1
alpha-Fetoproteins