Pure red-cell aplasia as the presenting feature of the carcionoid tumor of the thymus: case report

Acquired pure red-cell aplasia (PRCA) is an uncommon disorder of erythrocytopoiesis that can develop in association with thymic tumors. We present the very rare case of a severely anemic 62-year-old man with PRCA and a concurrent neuroendocrine carcinoid tumor of the thymus. The anterior mediastinal thymus tumor was completely excised, and following histological and immunohistochemical analyses (showing positive staining for cytokeratin, chromogranin A, synaptophysin, and neuron-specific enolase) the diagnosis of a (grade I; T 1 N 0 M 0 ) typical carcinoid tumor of the thymus was made. Postoperatively the anemia persisted despite no signs of residual tumor on CT chest. A hematological work up found: normocellularity with