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Can Thymus Cancer Be Found Early?
Screening is testing for a disease like cancer in people without any symptoms. Thymus cancers (thymomas and thymic carcinomas) are uncommon, and there are no widely recommended screening tests for them.
Still, sometimes thymus cancer is found before it has grown outside the thymus.
Sometimes a thymus tumor is seen in the front of the chest by chance on a test (like a chest x-ray or CT scan) that is done for some other reason. Further testing then shows it’s a thymus cancer.
Some thymomas are found at an early stage because of symptoms a person has that are not directly caused by the tumor mass itself. These symptoms are from paraneoplastic syndromes (tumor-related conditions) instead, which occur in about half of people with thymus cancers. Some paraneoplastic syndromes linked with thymus cancers include:
- Myasthenia gravis
- Pure red cell aplasia
- Hypogammaglobulinemia
For more on these syndromes, see Signs and Symptoms of Thymus Cancers.
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- References
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Kaidar-Person O, Zagar T, Haithcock BE, Weiss J. Chapter 70: Diseases of the Pleura and Mediastinum. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Doroshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa. Elsevier: 2019.
Meneshian A, Oliver KR, Molina JR. Clinical presentation and management of thymoma and thymic carcinoma. UpToDate. 2024. Accessed at https://www.uptodate.com/contents/clinical-presentation-and-management-of-thymoma-and-thymic-carcinoma on October 21, 2024.
National Cancer Institute. Thymoma and Thymic Carcinoma Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version. 2024. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/types/thymoma/hp/thymoma-treatment-pdq on October 21, 2024.
Last Revised: December 6, 2024
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