All issues > Volume 49(9); 2006

Case Report

Korean J Pediatr. 2006;49(9):996-999. Published online September 15, 2006.

A case of true thymic hyperplasia in the mediastinum with ectopic thymus in the neck

Hyun-Jung HJ Kim¹, Sun-Hwa SH Jang¹, Ji-Sook JS Park¹, Eun-Sil ES Park¹, Ji-Hyun JH Seo¹, Jae-Young JY Lim¹, Chan-Hoo CH Park¹, Hyang-Ok HO Woo¹, Hee-Shang HS Youn¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Korea

Correspondence Jae-Young JY Lim ,Email: pedneu@gshp.gsnu.ac.kr

Abstract

True thymic hyperplasia and ectopic thymus are very rare in children. In embryologic aspect, thymus is distributed around cervical area and ends up in mediastinum. This case is simultaneous thymic hyperplasia of neck and mediastinum. Ectopic thymus in the neck and thymic hyperplasia in the mediastinum in children were reported 2 and 7 cases respectively in Korea. In Clinical aspects, these thymic hyperplasia were presented by mass. So we should suspect these benign condition to avoid unnecessary operation or biopsy. We report a case of true thymic hyperplasia in the mediastinum with ectopic thymus in the neck in a 4-month-old male infant and review the relevant literature. We believe this is the first reported case in the world of true thymus hyperplasia in the mediastinum with cervical ectopic thymus in the neck.

Keywords :True thymic hyperplasia , Ectopic thymus