Thymoma

In this contrast thoracic CT scan of a middle-aged woman with newly diagnosed seropositive generalized myasthenia gravis, an abnormal thymic lesion (present in the anterior mediastinal compartment) could be seen  (Figure 1). The patient was referred to the Cardiothoracic Surgeons where she received a thymectomy via an open sternotomy. The thymic specimen was sent for histo-pathological analysis and was confirmed to be a thymoma.

A chest radiograph (Figure 2) of the patient after the operation was performed and shows the presence of sternotomy wires . Of interest, is that the right breast soft tissue shadow is lacking in the chest radiograph . In fact, the patient also had a right mastectomy done few years ago for a breast carcinoma.