Thymoma Presenting as Right-Side Heart Failure in a Young Healthy Patient: A Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

Thymoma is a rare tumor yet the most common neoplasm of the anterior mediastinum, accounting for 20-25% of all mediastinal tumors. Its incidence peaks in the fourth and fifth decades of life. Usually thymoma is diagnosed incidentally on chest imaging, or when investigating patients with myasthenia gravis, or with chest symptoms such as cough, chest pain, or dyspnea. We report here the case of a 31-year-old male patient with a swinging heart due to thymoma who presented with abdominal ascites and lower limbs edema, treated successfully with surgery and radiotherapy. This is, to our knowledge, the first case of thymoma to present this way with right-side heart failure like symptoms.




J Med Cases. 2016;7(8):315-319
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2478e