[Malignant thymoma detected by thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy]

We present two cases of malignant thymoma which showed a remarkable accumulation of thallium-201 chloride on myocardial scintigraphy. A 69 year-old man underwent stress 201Tl scintigraphy to evaluate myocardial ischemia and abnormal accumulation of thallium activity was observed in the anterior mediastinum by chance. It was more clearly visualized on delayed image. Moreover, abnormal uptake of 67Ga citrate was also observed in the same region. In another 68 year-old woman, there was high uptake on 201Tl scintigraphy, but no abnormal uptake using 67Ga. The diagnosis of malignant thymoma was confirmed by operation in each patient. These two cases had no abnormality in the mediastinum on the chest X-ray film and one of them had no uptake of 67Ga, 201Tl scintigraphy was more useful to detect malignant thymoma.