[Clinico-morphological characteristics of status thymicolymphaticus in adolescents and adults]

Analysis of 18 autopsy observations of status thymicolymphaticus (STL) in patients aged from 14 to 44 years is presented. The clinical diagnosis of STL in adults was shown to be unsatisfactory because physicians are not properly acquainted with its clinical manifestations. The latter are in some cases conditioned by predominant involvement of the endocrine system, in others by incompetence of immunogenesis. Fatal complications developing in some cases of STL are associated with congenital abnormalities in the cardiovascular system. Morphological signs of STL include hyperplasia of the thymus and lymphoid tissue in combination with adrenal hypoplasia and, in most cases, with cardiovascular abnormalities. This analysis suggests that STL is a congenital syndrome of immunoendocrine insufficiency combined in the great majority of cases with other malformations.