Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 6, 2023; 11(1): 164-171
Published online Jan 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i1.164
Thymic lipofibroadenomas: Three case reports
Mai-Qing Yang, Zhi-Qiang Wang, Li-Qian Chen, Su-Mei Gao, Xing-Ning Fu, Hai-Ning Zhang, Ke-Xin Zhang, Hong-Tao Xu
Mai-Qing Yang, Li-Qian Chen, Su-Mei Gao, Xing-Ning Fu, Department of Pathology, Weifang People's Hospital (First Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University), Weifang 261041, Shandong Province, China
Zhi-Qiang Wang, Department of Orthopedics and Trauma, Weifang People's Hospital (First Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University), Weifang 261041, Shandong Province, China
Hai-Ning Zhang, Ke-Xin Zhang, Hong-Tao Xu, Department of Pathology, The First Hospital and College of Basic Medical Sciences of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Xu HT and Yang MQ designed the study; Yang MQ, Wang ZQ, Chen LQ, Gao SM, Fu XN, Zhang HN, Zhang KX conducted the study; Xu HT and Yang MQ wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning province, No. 2020-MS-179.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hong-Tao Xu, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Pathology, the First Hospital and College of Basic Medical Sciences of China Medical University, No. 155 Nanjingbei Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China. xuht@cmu.edu.cn
Received: September 4, 2022
Peer-review started: September 4, 2022
First decision: December 13, 2022
Revised: December 15, 2022
Accepted: December 21, 2022
Article in press: December 21, 2022
Published online: January 6, 2023
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Thymic lipofibroadenomas are extremely rare. In this study, we investigated the clinicopathological characteristics of thymic lipofibroadenomas.

CASE SUMMARY

This study included three patients with thymic lipofibroadenomas. We retrospectively analyzed the patient data to determine the clinicopathological characteristics of thymic lipofibroadenomas. The study included one man and two women [mean age, 43 (33–59) years]. All patients were non-smokers and presented with well-defined anterior mediastinal tumors. The cut surfaces of the tumors were solid, with a mixture of yellow and white areas. Microscopic evaluation of resected specimens showed scattered cord-like structures of epithelial cells embedded within abundant fibrotic and hyaline stroma admixed with variable quantities of adipose tissue. One patient showed hyperplastic thymic tissue in a part of the tumor.

CONCLUSION

Thymic lipofibroadenomas are an extremely rare type of benign thymic tumor. Surgical removal of lipofibroadenomas is usually curative.

Keywords: Lipofibroadenoma, Thymoma, Rare thymic tumor, Clinicopathological characteristics, Thoracic tumor, Case report

Core Tip: Thymic lipofibroadenomas are an extremely rare variety of benign thymic tumors. Morphological and immunohistochemical features can be useful in diagnosing thymic lipofibroadenomas. Surgical removal of lipofibroadenomas is usually curative.