[Thymoma in the anterior mediastinum and systemic lupus erythematosus]

The authors describe an observation of a thymoma and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a 48-year-old woman with an analysis of clinical and laboratory indicators justifying this diagnosis. Improvement of SLE and the lupus nephropathy was achieved by three pulses of methyl prednisolone à 1000 mg in an intravenous infusion with subsequent Prednisone therapy, using conventional doses. After thymectomy on account of a benign thymoma activation of SLE did not occur. The objective of the presented paper is to draw attention to the infrequent possible concurrent incidence of thymoma and SLE and the influence of thymectomy and the subsequent development of SLE.