Thymoma detection by mediastinal CT: patient with myasthenia gravis

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Abstract
The precise role of computed tomography (CT) in evaluating the mediastinum for thymomas in patients with myasthenia gravis is not defined. The only published CT accuracy assessment reports a false-positive rate of 90%. Mediastinal CT was performed in 23 consecutive unselected patients with myasthenia gravis who underwent thymectomy independent of their neurologic status or diagnostic imaging results. Four patients had discrete thymomas; all were detected by CT. Conventional chest radiography and tomography were positive in three and falsely negative in one. In the remaining 19 patients with a normal or atrophic thymus or microscopic hyperplasia, CT was falsely positive in two; conventional chest radiography and tomography were falsely positive in three. Mediastinal CT is an accurate technique for evaluation of thymoma in patients with myasthenia gravis.

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