About thymic carcinomas: challenges in diagnosis and management.

BackgroundThymic carcinomas are rare tumors with a challenging diagnosis. Our aim was to report our 17-year experience of these tumors and to highlight the challenges encountered and the main differential diagnoses ruled out.MethodsWe studied 12 (92%) men and 1 (7.7%) woman with a mean age of 37 years (range 15–60 years). All patients were symptomatic, with chest pain representing the most frequent symptom. Radiology revealed anterior mediastinal masses in all cases, with either infiltration of the adjacent organs or pulmonary parenchymal metastases.ResultsThe diagnosis was made on surgical biopsies in 12 cases and a lymph node biopsy in one. Microscopic examination revealed squamous carcinoma in 3 cases, synovial sarcoma in 1, mucinous adenocarcinoma in 1, undifferentiated carcinoma in 2, clear cell carcinoma in 1, lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma in 2, atypical carcinoid tumor in 2, and sarcomatoid carcinoma in 1. Total surgical resection was possible in one patient after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and ra...