Korean J Intern Med.  2003 Mar;18(1):61-63.

Very Severe Aplastic Anemia appearing after Thymectomy

• Park CY
• Kim HJ
• Kim YJ
• Park YH
• Lee JW
• Min WS
• Kim CC

Abstract

Aplastic anemia is a rare complication of thymoma and is extremely infrequent after thymectomy. We present a case of a 60-year-old woman with very severe aplastic anemia appearing sixteen months after thymectomy for a thymoma. She underwent thymectomy for a thymoma in April 2000. Preoperative examination revealed no hematologic abnormality. About sixteen months after the operation, she was readmitted because of pancytopenia with cough and fever. Bone marrow aspiration revealed a very severe hypoplasia in all the three cell lines with over 80% fatty tissue, and chest CT revealed no recurrence of thymoma. Her aplastic anemia had responded to cyclosporine A and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF).

Keyword

Aplastic anemia; Thymoma; Thymectomy; Cyclosporine A

MeSH Terms

Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy/*etiology/*pathology
Biopsy, Needle
Bone Marrow/pathology
Cyclosporine/administration & dosage
Drug Therapy, Combination
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor/administration & dosage
Humans
Middle Aged
Rare Diseases
Risk Assessment
Severity of Illness Index
Thymectomy/*adverse effects/methods
Thymoma/diagnosis/*surgery
Treatment Outcome