Residual Thymus

[ladybugs40]

My son had chest pain and went to a hospital out of town.  They checked him for heart trouble and it came back good.  They did a CT of the chest and told him he had a 2.9 cm. mediastinal mass.  An Oncoligist talked with him and told him he needed a biopsy of the mass.  He wanted to come back to his home town and see a Thoracic Suregon.  The suregon had a radioligist in our home town to read the original films and they did not agree.  They said they believe it is Residual Thymus.  I am very confused and need some advise as what to do.  Does the residual thymus need to be taken out and should I request the doctors still do a biopsy just to be on the safe side.
  

[penfriend]

Get a second opinion.I would say NO to a biopsie?
I have been diagnosed with a parathyroid tumor inside my thymus. I went to a specialist who first ordered a specialised scan that shows where the tumor is without having to do nasty invasive procedures like biopsies. My thymus is being removed along with the parathyroid tumor. When they remove the tumor & thymus they will send them off to the lab to see if there are any other nasties present.

[wilmajim]

I am a 74 year old female who rarely if ever sweated. Then came menopause! I apparently had really strong hot flashes, about 5 minutes every 15 minutes. This lasted at least 16 years. Then came post menopause! Now I have, I cannot call them hot flashes, extreme sweating about the head and diminishing at the shoulders. This happens if I am in a temperature of more than 70 degrees. I have always loved summer, which I am unable to enjoy anymore. I am desperate to find relief. Someone please help me. I have not been able to get any help from Drs. They don't seem to know why this is, but as near as I can find, I think it has something to do with the thymus gland.
wilma_jim95959***@****

[dsledge]

can you help? carciniod and the thymus, those to words together scary

[joek39]

I was diagnosed at age 44 with a carcinoid tumor of the thymus gland.  Very rare, slow growing cancer that I caught only because it was wrapped around my left phrenic nerve which controls the diagphragm and breathing on the left side - couldn't breath well - got an xray - saw the diaphagm in the wrong position and eventually found the abnormal mass with a CT scan.  Surgery removed it.

By all means, get the mass biopsied.  The thymus gland grows until a person reaches puberty, then slowly shuts down , actually dimenishes in size over time.  In some folks, cannot even locate it once they get to be 40-50 years old.  The thymus gland is important in T-cell production, part of the bodies immune system, but you can definitely live without it.

get the biopsy - several different cancers can attack the thymus (called thynomas)

good luck, let me know

- Joe