Thymic Carcinoma Developing Years after Thymectomy

Thymoma is the most common primary neoplasm of the anterior mediastinum (1). Most patients with thymoma are between the ages of 40 and 60. The prevalence of thymoma is similar in men and women (2). Between 30% to 50% of patients with thymoma suffer from Myasthenia Gravis (MG); whereas 10% to 15% of MG patients have thymoma (1). MG is an autoimmune disease and its symptoms include ptosis, extraocular muscle weakness, dysphagia, and limb weakness. The main symptom of MG is fluctuating weakness in any or all of the ocular, bulbar, limb, and respiratory muscles (3). In patients who have MG with a tumor in the mediastinum, thymectomy is widely used. During thymectomy, the thymus gland, the tumor if it exists as well as the tissue surrounding it, and the tissue between the right and left phrenic nerves are removed (4). Herein, we present a patient with MG who was found to have invasive thymic carcinoma years after thymectomy for apparently thymoma