ecancermedicalscience

Case Report

Thymoma associated with hypogammaglobulinaemia and pure red cell aplasia

17 Oct 2013
Juan Briones, Mirentxu Iruretagoyena, Héctor Galindo, Claudia Ortega, Pablo Zoroquiain, José Valbuena, Francesco Acevedo, Mauricio Ocqueteau, Cesar Sánchez

Thymomas are neoplasias that begin in the thymus and develop in the anterior mediastinum. They are commonly associated with a variety of systemic and autoimmune disorders, such as pure red cell aplasia, hypogammaglobulinaemia, pancytopaenia, collagen diseases, and, most commonly, myasthenia gravis. The presence of inter-current infections, especially diarrhoea and pneumonia, in the presence of lymphocyte B depletion and hypogammaglobulinaemia is known as Good’s syndrome and may affect up to 5% of patients with thymoma. While anaemia is present in 50%–86% of patients with Good’s syndrome, only 41.9% of cases present pure red cell aplasia. Concomitance of these two conditions has only been rarely studied. We report on the case of a 55-year-old man diagnosed with advanced thymoma, who, during the progression of his disease, developed signs and symptoms suggesting Good’s syndrome and pure red cell aplasia. We also performed a brief review of the literature concerning this association, its clinical characteristics, and treatment.

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