A case of primary thymic MALT lymphoma

Park, Woo Young; Seong, Hee Jin; Lee, Sang Min; Kim, Ju Youn; Kim, Jin Young; Do, Young Rok; Song, Hong Suk

Abstract

Primary thymic MALT lymphoma is a rare thymic tumor, with only eight previous cases having been described worldwide to date. We report a case of a 60-year-old Korean woman diagnosed as primary thymic MALT lymphoma. She was found to have an anterior mediastinal tumor during a medical check-up in 2006 and was referred to our hospital for further examination and treatment. The thymus was resected through a median sternotomy and pathology revealed primary thymic MALT lymphoma. Two months later, a follow-up chest CT showed a residual mediastinal soft tissue mass and increased FDG uptake was detected on PET CT scan. The patient was irradiated with 4,140 cGy. After radiation therapy, no evidence of residual soft tissue was found in follow-up chest CT scan and the patient is alive and well 15 months after treatment. We report the details of this case of primary thymic MALT lymphoma treated with irradiation and also offer a review of the literature.