[The coexistence of pulmonary tuberculosis and thymoma a case report]

A 33-year-old male was admitted with complaints of cough, dysphagia, and swelling of face and upper extremities. Chest X-ray and CT scan revealed a large mediastinal mass and infiltrates in the right upper lobe. Percutaneous biopsy proved the mediastinal tumor as thymoma with cellular atypia. After irradiation, the tumor was surgically removed. Caseous epitheloid granulomas were found in the dissected mediastinal lymph nodes. AFB (Acid fast bacillus) stain of the patient's gastric fluid was positive for Mycobacterium. The coexistence of these two diseases was incidental, however, this case suggested that clinicians should perform careful evaluation of lung parenchyma as well as mediastinum on chest X-ray to identify occult diseases including pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with mediastinal mass lesion.