Doctors at Joseph’s University Medical Center (USA) reported a rare case of a 17-centimeter tumor in a healthy patient who came to the hospital with a cough complaint. The report has been published Journal of Surgical Case Presentations.
A 22-year-old healthy male patient was admitted to the hospital with a cough that had persisted for three weeks and had no other symptoms. On a chest X-ray, doctors found a buildup of fluid between his right lung and chest. Computed tomography revealed that the cough was caused by a 17.2-centimeter-long tumor adjacent to his right lung.
The team took a sample of the tumor and found that it developed from cells in the thymus gland, which is located just behind the breastbone and is responsible for producing mature immune cells. Doctors then performed surgery to remove the growth and further analyzed the tissue, showing that the growth was not cancerous. However, it is believed that all thymomas, that is, tumors of the thymus gland, can be malignant.
The patient was hospitalized for a week and returned to his normal life a month later.