Mediastinum - Clear cell thymic carcinoma

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Mediastinum

Thymic carcinoma

Clear cell thymic carcinoma

Reviewer: Hanni Gulwani, M.D. (see Reviewers page)
Revised: 3 March 2013, last major update December 2012
Copyright: (c) 2003-2013, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

General
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● Rare; clear cytoplasm due to either glycogen or degenerative changes
● Almost always fatal

Case reports
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● 42 year old man (Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2010;58:98)

Micro description
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● Lobular or occasionally sheet-like growth pattern of polygonal cells with clear cytoplasm, rather bland nuclear features, round vesicular nuclei, prominent nucleoli; delicate fibrovascular stroma (Am J Surg Pathol 1995;19:835)
● No blood lakes, no mucin

Micro images
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Large amount of glycogen-rich cytoplasm creates superficial resemblance to renal cell carcinoma

Large cells with abundant optically clear cytoplasm

Positive stains
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● PAS

Differential diagnosis
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● Metastatic renal cell carcinoma

End of Mediastinum > Thymic carcinoma > Clear cell thymic carcinoma

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