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Review
. 2024 May;27(5):e15187.
doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.15187.

Thymic carcinoma presenting with overlap polyarthritis and myositis: A rare paraneoplastic syndrome in childhood

Çisem Yıldız  1 , Büşra Topuz Türkcan  2 , Özge Vural  2 , Deniz Gezgin Yıldırım  1 , Mehmet Arda İnan  3 , Aylar Poyraz  3 , Faruk Güçlü Pınarlı  2 , İrfan Taştepe  4 , Ercan Demir  5 , Emine Nur Sunar Yayla  1 , Pelin Esmeray Şenol  1 , Nihal Karaçayır  1 , Sevcan A Bakkaloğlu  1
Affiliations
Review

Thymic carcinoma presenting with overlap polyarthritis and myositis: A rare paraneoplastic syndrome in childhood

Çisem Yıldız et al. Int J Rheum Dis. 2024 May.

Abstract

Thymic tumors are very rare neoplasms in children and account for less than 1% of mediastinal tumors in pediatric patients. One-third of the pediatric patients present with symptoms related to the compression of the tumor mass on the surrounding anatomic structures, and paraneoplastic syndromes such as myasthenia gravis, pure red cell aplasia, acquired hypogammaglobulinemia, and connective tissue disorders, which rarely occur in children with thymic tumors. Herein, we report a case of thymic carcinoma mimicking the symptoms of a connective tissue disease with symmetrical polyarthritis accompanying myositis, fever, weight loss, and malaise in a 15-year-old male patient. To our knowledge, this is the first case pediatric thymic carcinoma accompany with severe polyarthritis and myopathy, thus we have reviewed the current literature regarding the cases of thymic malignancies coexisting with paraneoplastic syndromes in children.

Keywords: arthritis; malignancy; paraneoplastic syndrome; thymic carcinoma.

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References

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