Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old Boy
Thymic hyperplasia associated with Graves’ disease is rarely reported in children, although it is not uncommon in adults. Occasionally, an enlarged thymus presents as an anterior mediastinal mass on a radiographic examination. Such patients often undergo invasive procedures such as a thymus biopsy o...
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The Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology
2011
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3687639/ |
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pubmed-36876392013-08-07 Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old Boy Kawano, Atsuko Kohno, Hitoshi Case Report Thymic hyperplasia associated with Graves’ disease is rarely reported in children, although it is not uncommon in adults. Occasionally, an enlarged thymus presents as an anterior mediastinal mass on a radiographic examination. Such patients often undergo invasive procedures such as a thymus biopsy or thymectomy because of suspected malignancy. However, an enlarged thymus with Graves’ disease is known to shrink after treatment with antithyroid drugs. Therefore, recognition of this benign course would avoid unnecessary surgical resection. This report presents the case of a 10-yr-old boy with Graves’ disease complicated with an anterior mediastinal mass. Computed tomography showed a homogenous mass with no invasion into the surrounding tissue. A gallium-67 scintigraphy showed no abnormal uptake. Shrinkage of the mass after treatment with an antithyroid drug (methyl-mercaptoimidazole) supported the diagnosis of thymic hyperplasia with Graves’ disease. This case report illustrates two important points. First, pediatricians should be aware that thymic hyperplasia can coexist with Graves’ disease, even in children. Second, close radiographic assessment would support a diagnosis of thymic hyperplasia and eliminate invasive diagnostic procedures. The Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology 2011-10-07 2011-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3687639/ /pubmed/23926397 http://dx.doi.org/10.1297/cpe.20.61 Text en 2011©The Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Kawano, Atsuko Kohno, Hitoshi |
| spellingShingle |
Kawano, Atsuko Kohno, Hitoshi Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old Boy |
| author_facet |
Kawano, Atsuko Kohno, Hitoshi |
| author_sort |
Kawano, Atsuko |
| title |
Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old
Boy |
| title_short |
Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old
Boy |
| title_full |
Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old
Boy |
| title_fullStr |
Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old
Boy |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Thymic Hyperplasia Associated with Graves’ Disease in a 10-year-old
Boy |
| title_sort |
thymic hyperplasia associated with graves’ disease in a 10-year-old
boy |
| description |
Thymic hyperplasia associated with Graves’ disease is rarely reported in children,
although it is not uncommon in adults. Occasionally, an enlarged thymus presents as an
anterior mediastinal mass on a radiographic examination. Such patients often undergo
invasive procedures such as a thymus biopsy or thymectomy because of suspected malignancy.
However, an enlarged thymus with Graves’ disease is known to shrink after treatment with
antithyroid drugs. Therefore, recognition of this benign course would avoid unnecessary
surgical resection. This report presents the case of a 10-yr-old boy with Graves’ disease
complicated with an anterior mediastinal mass. Computed tomography showed a homogenous
mass with no invasion into the surrounding tissue. A gallium-67 scintigraphy showed no
abnormal uptake. Shrinkage of the mass after treatment with an antithyroid drug
(methyl-mercaptoimidazole) supported the diagnosis of thymic hyperplasia with Graves’
disease. This case report illustrates two important points. First, pediatricians should be
aware that thymic hyperplasia can coexist with Graves’ disease, even in children. Second,
close radiographic assessment would support a diagnosis of thymic hyperplasia and
eliminate invasive diagnostic procedures. |
| publisher |
The Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology |
| publishDate |
2011 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3687639/ |
| _version_ |
1611987871641632768 |