Hide-and-Seek With Spindle-Cell-Component-Poor Metaplastic Thymoma

Gintarė Ražanskienė; Vilhelmas Landsbergis; Vytenis Bertašius; Rimvydas Norvilas; Ugnius Mickys

doi:10.7759/cureus.60136

Hide-and-Seek With Spindle-Cell-Component-Poor Metaplastic Thymoma

Cureus. 2024 May 12;16(5):e60136. doi: 10.7759/cureus.60136. eCollection 2024 May.

Authors

Gintarė Ražanskienė¹, Vilhelmas Landsbergis², Vytenis Bertašius^{3

2}, Rimvydas Norvilas⁴, Ugnius Mickys^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ National Center of Pathology, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Vilnius, LTU.
² Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LTU.
³ Thoracic Surgery, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Vilnius, LTU.
⁴ Hematology, Oncology and Transfusion Medicine Center, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Vilnius, LTU.

Abstract

Metaplastic thymoma is a rare biphasic thymic tumor with indolent behavior and recurrent YAP1::MAML2 gene rearrangement. Although the diagnosis of this tumor is usually straightforward based on hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) findings alone, cases with scant spindle-cell ("pseudosarcomatous stroma") components can be easily confused with more commonly occurring type A thymoma. We present a case of metaplastic thymoma with a sparse stroma-like spindle-cell component, discussing its histological and immunohistochemical hints and drawing attention to the visual similarity to type A thymoma. This is also the first published case of metaplastic thymoma with associated psoriasis.

Keywords: islet-1; metaplastic thymoma; paraneoplastic syndrome; psoriasis; yap1::maml2.

Publication types

Case Reports