What are the obvious symptoms of thymoma?

Thymoma is a relatively serious disease. We know that the thymus is an important immune organ in the human body. When thymoma occurs, patients often experience chest tightness and chest pain, which can cause coughing, pain in the anterior chest, pleural effusion, and myasthenia gravis in patients. It is easy to be combined with some more serious diseases, such as hypoglobulinemia, nephritis and nephrotic syndrome, etc.

1. Chest pain, chest tightness, cough and discomfort in the front chest

The clinical symptoms of thymoma arise from the compression of surrounding organs and the unique symptoms of the tumor itself - the combined syndrome. Small thymomas are often asymptomatic and difficult to detect. When the tumor grows to a certain size, common symptoms are chest pain, chest tightness, cough, and discomfort in the anterior chest. Symptoms last for a long time, and some patients may have mediastinal tumor shadows during X-ray examination or chest X-ray or chest radiography.

2. Dyspnea caused by pleural effusion

The neglected thymoma often grows to a considerable size at this time, compressing the innominate vein or presenting with symptoms of superior vena cava obstruction syndrome. Severe chest pain, rapid worsening of symptoms in a short period of time, severe irritating cough, dyspnea caused by pleural effusion, palpitations and shortness of breath caused by pericardial effusion, and pain in joints and bones throughout the body all indicate the possibility of malignant thymoma.

3. Combined with certain syndromes

The unique manifestation of thymoma is the combination of certain syndromes, such as myasthenia gravis, simple red cell aplasia, hypoglobulinemia, nephritis nephrotic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, megaesophagus, etc.

4. Myasthenia gravis

Myasthenia gravis has long been associated with the thymus gland (or thymoma). Myasthenia gravis can be clinically divided into three types. Ptosis, long-term visual fatigue, and diplopia are ocular muscle type; inability to extend the upper limbs for a long time and the need to sit down and rest after walking a short distance are trunk type; difficulty chewing and swallowing, and even paralysis of the respiratory muscles are medullary type. The most dangerous clinical condition is myasthenic crisis, in which the patient's respiratory muscles are paralyzed and artificial breathing is required.

Myasthenia gravis is currently believed to be an autoimmune disease, mainly caused by mutation of the thymus due to certain stimulation. For many years, anti-acetylcholine esterase drugs such as pyridostigmine have been used to treat myasthenia gravis. In recent years, immunosuppressants such as hormones and cyclophosphamide have been added.

5. Simple red cell aplasia

One of the coexisting diseases with thymoma is pure red cell aplasia. Pure red cell aplasia can be primary with unclear causes, or it can be secondary to drugs, infection, and tumors.

6. Nephrotic syndrome nephritis

The relationship between nephrotic nephritis and thymoma is still unclear. Nephrotic syndrome may be part of the systemic presentation of certain tumors, such as Hodgkin disease. A possible explanation is that thymoma cross-reacts with the antigen-antibody complexes of glomerulonephritis.