A case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus

We report a rare case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus, together with a review of the literature. A 71-year-old female was pointed out as showing an abnormal shadow on a chest roentgenogram. Chest CT and MRI suggested that she had a stage I thymoma (Masaoka staging system). She was admitted to our hospital, and underwent surgical resection. The tumor had invaded the right mediastinal pleura and upper lobe of the right lung. From the pathological findings, the tumor was diagnosed as mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus, high-grade. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient was discharged from the hospital on the fourth postoperative day. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus is so rare that only 37 cases of the disease including this case have been reported.