Abstract
BackgroundThymic carcinoma has been classified into 12 subtypes, thymic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a type of them, and has a pathological organization similar to that of lymphoepithelioma, an undifferentiated type of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. According to a report from the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG), thymic LELC is a rare tumor and accounts for 6% of all thymic carcinoma cases. We report two cases of surgical resection for thymic LELC and perform a search of other reports of thymic LELC, and clinical manifestations and follow-up data thus obtained are summarized.Case presentationTwo patients underwent surgical resection for thymic LELC. In both, tumors were detected in the anterior mediastinum and a total thymectomy was performed. Each was diagnosed with thymic LELC and classified in accordance with the Masaoka staging system as modified stage II. In recent examinations, one patient was doing well after undergoing total resection, whereas early recurrence of distant lymph node metastasis was noted in the other at 5 months after the total resection procedure and died thereafter from a different disease.ConclusionWe report two cases of surgical resection for thymic LELC. A successful total resection may positively affect prognosis: thus, long-term follow-up examinations must be performed.
Highlights
Thymic carcinoma has been classified into 12 subtypes, thymic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a type of them, and has a pathological organization similar to that of lymphoepithelioma, an undifferentiated type of nasopharyngeal carcinoma
We report two cases of surgical resection for thymic LELC
Thymic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC), a thymic carcinoma that has been classified into 12 subtypes, has a pathological organization similar to that of lymphoepithelioma, an undifferentiated type of nasopharyngeal carcinoma [1]
Summary
We treated 2 patients for thymic LELC with surgical resection. Currently, there is no standard treatment strategy for this tumor; additional case reports as well as analysis are needed.
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