[Thymic Hodgkin's disease with cystic variants: a case report]

We report an unusual case of thymic Hodgkin's disease with cystic variants. The patient complained of nodules in his neck. Chest radiographs showed a mass with cystic lesions in the anterior mediastinum. Although Hodgkin's disease was suspected from pathologic examination of biopsy specimens of the neck nodules, the mediastinal and neck masses could not be precisely diagnosed until a median sternotomy was done. The surgically excised mediastinal masses revealed thymic Hodgkin's disease with cystic lesions. The patient has done well after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Thymic Hodgkin's disease with cystic variants is very rare and only seventeen cases of this disease have been reported.