[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-440311-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-440311-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","spleen-metastasis-as-rare-systemic-manifestation-of-thymoma-a-case-report","Spleen metastasis as rare systemic manifestation of thymoma - a case report","","Thymomas are thymic epithelial tumors that characteristically show little tendency for extrathoracic spread, making splenic metastasis an exceptionally uncommon systemic presentation. This case report details a 73-year-old man with an incidentally discovered anterior mediastinal mass diagnosed as thymoma after resection. During follow-up, a difficult-to-characterize splenic lesion was identified and confirmed as metastatic thymoma after laparoscopic splenectomy. The patient also developed Good’s syndrome, leading to fatal infectious complications despite intensive care. The authors recommend routine immunoglobulin level checks in newly diagnosed thymoma patients to anticipate opportunistic infections.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/spleen-metastasis-as-rare-systemic-manifestation-of-thymoma-a-case-report/440311/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/spleen-metastasis-as-rare-systemic-manifestation-of-thymoma-a-case-report/440311.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Indoniesian Boy","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why is splenic metastasis from thymoma considered rare?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Thymomas typically grow slowly and rarely metastasize extrathoracically, so splenic metastatic involvement is an extremely rare systemic manifestation.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What role did Good’s syndrome play in this case?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The patient developed Good’s syndrome, a thymoma-associated immunological disorder that increases vulnerability to opportunistic infections.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How did clinicians confirm metastatic thymoma in the spleen?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"After a splenic lesion was found during follow-up, laparoscopic splenectomy was performed, and the diagnosis of metastatic thymoma was confirmed.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},440311,1790760570,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":107,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":102,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962090760608,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Case Report  \nSpleen metastasis as rare systemic manifestation of thymoma: a case report  \nTom Decaluwé1, Dirk Van Raemdonck2, Paul M. Clement3, Inge Derdelinckx4, Christophe M. Deroose5, Didier Bielen6, Thomas Tousseyn7, An-Lies Provoost2, Joris Jaekers1  \n1Department of Abdominal Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 2Department of Thoracic Surgery & lung transplantation, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 3Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 4Department of Infectiology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 5Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 6Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 7Department of Pathology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Contributions: (I) Conception and design: T Decaluwé, J Jaekers, D Van Raemdonck; (II) Administrative support: None; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: J Jaekers, D Van Raemdonck, D Bielen, T Tousseyn; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: T Decaluwé, J Jaekers, D Van Raemdonck; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: All authors; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors. Correspondence to: Tom Decaluwé, MD. Trainee General Surgery, Department of Abdominal Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven B-3000, Belgium. Email: [tom.decaluwe1@student.kuleuven.be](tom.decaluwe1@student.kuleuven.be).  \nBackground: Thymomas are thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) and the most common tumors of the anterior mediastinum. In the natural course of this malignancy, there is no tendency towards extrathoracic metastasis. This report describes an extremely rare case of splenic metastatic disease from a thymoma.  \nAdditionally, the patient developed Good’s syndrome, a thymoma-associated immunological disorder which makes the patient vulnerable for opportunistic infections. This syndrome is generally treated with  \nintravenous immunoglobulins.  \nCase Description: The patient is an asymptomatic 73-year-old man of Caucasian origin without significant past medical history. He was diagnosed with an anterior mediastinal mass on computed tomography (CT) of the chest in the work-up of his newly diagnosed prostate carcinoma, which turned out to be a thymoma after surgical resection. During follow-up the patient developed a splenic lesion which was difficult to characterize. After laparoscopic splenectomy the diagnosis of metastatic thymoma was confirmed.  \nAdditionally, the patient developed Good’s syndrome. Unfortunately, the patient died of associated infectious  \ncomplications after thorough intensive care treatment.  \nConclusions: Metastatic splenic disease from a thymoma, further complicated by development of Good’s syndrome is extremely rare and hitherto never described before. To anticipate possible infectious complications in patients with newly diagnosed thymoma, we advise to routinely check immunoglobulin  \nlevels in these patients.  \nKeywords: Thymoma; splenic metastasis; Good’s syndrome; case report  \nReceived: 17 March 2025; Accepted: 29 September 2025; Published online: 26 December 2025.  \ndoi: 10.21037/med-25-17  \nView this article at: [https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/med-25-17](https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/med-25-17)  \nIntroduction  \nThymomas and thymic carcinomas are the most common primary tumors of the anterior mediastinum and these thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) have an incidence rate of 1.7 per million per year in Europe (1) . Furthermore,  \nthymomas grow slowly and rarely metastasize, whereas thymic carcinomas behave more aggressively and frequently develop metastases to the liver, lymph nodes or bones. Hence, to find extrathoracic metastatic disease from athymoma, is extremely rare (1) . Here we report the case of 73-year-old man of Caucasian origin with a splenic  \n© AME Publishing Company. Mediastinum 2025;9:36 | [https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/med-25-17](https://dx.do","cbCaicrscMEUmddW","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicrscMEUmddW","pdf",869382,"English","# Introduction\n# Case presentation\n## Case description\n## Clinical findings\n## Patient information\n# Conclusions","[{\"question\":\"Why is splenic metastasis from thymoma considered rare?\",\"answer\":\"Thymomas typically grow slowly and rarely metastasize extrathoracically, so splenic metastatic involvement is an extremely rare systemic manifestation.\"},{\"question\":\"What role did Good’s syndrome play in this case?\",\"answer\":\"The patient developed Good’s syndrome, a thymoma-associated immunological disorder that increases vulnerability to opportunistic infections.\"},{\"question\":\"How did clinicians confirm metastatic thymoma in the spleen?\",\"answer\":\"After a splenic lesion was found during follow-up, laparoscopic splenectomy was performed, and the diagnosis of metastatic thymoma was confirmed.\"}]","Spleen metastasis as rare systemic manifestation of thymoma - a case report | PDF",1790691772,15]