Mediastinum
Thymic carcinoma
Parathyroid carcinoma of thymus
Copyright: 2003-2019, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Parathyroid carcinoma of thymus[TIAB]
Thymic carcinoma
Parathyroid carcinoma of thymus
Author: Hanni Gulwani, M.B.B.S.
Topic Completed: 1 December 2012
Minor changes: 5 December 2019
Copyright: 2003-2019, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Parathyroid carcinoma of thymus[TIAB]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Poor prognostic factors | Case reports | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Positive stains | Electron microscopy descriptionCite this page: Gulwani H. Parathyroid carcinoma of thymus. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/mediastinumPTH.html. Accessed May 30th, 2020.
Definition / general
- May arise within thymus or adjacent soft tissue of anterosuperior mediastinum
Clinical features
- Usually extreme hypercalcemia (> 14 mg/dl), markedly elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels
Poor prognostic factors
- > 5 MF/HPF, thick fibrous capsule or infiltrative growth pattern
Case reports
- 33 year old man with postoperative hungry bone syndrome (Endocr Pract 2003;9:152)
- Hemodialysis patient with unusual thymic involvement (J Laryngol Otol 2004;118:162)
Gross description
- Resembles primary thymic carcinoma
- May invade adjacent lung, pericardium, thoracic great vessels
- Unencapsulated
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Modest to marked atypia
- Sheets, nests or cords of polyhedral cells with round / oval hyperchromatic nuclei, occasional nucleoli, clear / granular cytoplasm
- Focal mitotic activity, necrosis
- May have internal collagenous bands
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on other servers:
Parathyroid carcinoma: site unknown
Positive stains
- Diastase sensitive, PAS+, PTH (mosaic staining), variable chromogranin A or synaptophysin
Electron microscopy description
- Primitive intercellular junctional complexes, prominent cytoplasmic glycogen, primitive blunt microvilli, sparse neurosecretory granules
- No tonofilaments
