THYMOMA A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY IN IRAQI PATIENTS

Abstract

Background: Thymoma is a rare tumor, it represent 0.09% of all tumors in Iraq still it’s the most frequent anterosuperior mediastinal tumor.Aim of the study: Study the clinicopathological features of thymoma in Iraqi patients.Materials and Methods: A retrospective study on Fifty-one cases of thymoma, randomly selected from three specialized cardiothoracic centers in Baghdad for the period from Jan.1991 to Oct.2004. Paraffin blocks were collected, and 4 micrometers sections were stained with Hematoxyline & Eosin stain. Thymoma was classified according to the most recent WHO histopathological classification (1999). And staged according to Masaoka`s staging system (1981), TNM staging system (1991) and GETT staging system (1991.Results: The fifty one cases included 19 females (37.25%) and 32 males (62.75%) their age ranged from 11-67 years with a mean of (39 +13.6) years. About half of the patients (54.9%) were found to have myasthenia gravis. WHO sub typing revealed that B2 was the most frequent subtype (35.3%). A significant correlation was found between WHO classification system &, Masaoka`s &TNM staging system, and with the sex of the patients.Conclusion: MG was the only paraneoplastic syndrome diagnosed in this study. A significant correlation was found between WHO classification system & Masaoka`s & TNM staging system, and with the sex of the patients.