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Clinical and pathological aspects of thymic epithelial tumors

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Abstract

A histological classification of thymic epithelial tumors was presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1999 and again in 2004 following slight modifications, in which thymic epithelial tumors were categorized as thymomas and thymic carcinomas. Whereas thymoma is defined as an organotypic (thymuslike) tumor, thymic carcinoma is a malignant epithelial neoplasm with a morphology similar to that of malignant neoplasms arising from other organs. Herein, the recent progress in research of thymic epithelial tumors is reviewed with reference to the WHO histological classification system, with the focus on thymomas. Thymomas are classified into five types—A, AB, B1, B2, B3—according to the shape and atypia of their epithelial cells as well as the abundance of lymphocytes. The invasiveness, prognosis, and genetic imbalance of thymomas have been shown to be related to this classification system. Myasthenia gravis is frequently associated with types B1 and B2. The WHO histological classification of thymomas is not only useful for treatment but reflects their biological characteristics, including genetic alterations. Advances are expected in future studies of thymomas from the standpoint of their clinical, pathological, and biological aspects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Thoracic Surgery (L5), Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Meinoshin Okumura, Hiroyuki Shiono, Masato Minami, Masayoshi Inoue, Tomoki Utsumi & Yoshihisa Kadota

  2. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

    Yoshiki Sawa

Authors
  1. Meinoshin Okumura
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  2. Hiroyuki Shiono
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  3. Masato Minami
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  4. Masayoshi Inoue
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  5. Tomoki Utsumi
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  6. Yoshihisa Kadota
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  7. Yoshiki Sawa
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Correspondence to Meinoshin Okumura.

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This review was submitted at the invitation of the editorial committee.

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Okumura, M., Shiono, H., Minami, M. et al. Clinical and pathological aspects of thymic epithelial tumors. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 56, 10–16 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-007-0177-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-007-0177-8

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