Mediastinum
Thymoma
Thymolipoma
Author: Hanni Gulwani, M.B.B.S.
Last author update: 1 December 2012
Last staff update: 15 March 2021
Copyright: 2003-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Thymolipoma[TI]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Epidemiology | Clinical features | Case reports | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: Gulwani H. Thymolipoma. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/mediastinumthymolipoma.html. Accessed December 30th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Increased thymic volume, due to lobules of mature adipose tissue mixed with unremarkable thymic tissue
- Benign
- May be neoplasm of thymic fat (Ann Diagn Pathol 2009;13:185)
Epidemiology
- Usually young to middle aged adults, found incidentally
Clinical features
- 10% associated with thymoma-like paraneoplastic symptoms
Case reports
- 26 year old woman with possible origin from thymic true hyperplasia (Int J Surg Pathol 2010;18:526)
- 36 year old woman with thymoma and thymic carcinoma arising in thymolipoma (Int J Surg Pathol 2009;17:55)
- 69 year old man with 570 g mediastinal mass (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2004;128:e159)
Gross description
- Encapsulated, up to 20 cm
- Resembles lipoma
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Thin fibrous capsule surrounding lobules of mature adipose tissue intimately associated with unremarkable thymic tissue containing cortex, medulla and Hassall corpuscles
- May have thymic epithelial proliferation, myoid cells, zones of dense fibrosis
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on other servers:
Mature adipose tissue admixed with unremarkable thymic tissue
