Long-term survival of a patient with type A thymoma and Masaoka's stage IV b: case report

Thymoma is the most common neoplasm in the anterior mediastinum. This report presents an extremely rare case of a type A thymoma with Masaoka's stage IV b due to lymph node metastasis. In 1997, a 59-year-old man underwent complete resection of a stage IV b type A thymoma with postoperative radiotherapy to the mediastinum. In 2006, small nodules were detected in the anterior mediastinum and above the right diaphragm and tumor resection was performed. The two lesions were both histologically diagnosed as recurrences of the type A thymoma. There has been no evidence of recurrence 15 months after the second surgery.