Thymic Carcinoma

Thymic carcinoma reflects a heterogeneous group of tumors that may be grouped into low- and high-grade tumors. Currently, thymic carcinoma is well recognized in the literature as a distinct histopathological category, but in the past, it was often conflated with the so-called malignant thymoma. Authoritative publications such the Atlas of Tumor Pathology from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology did not have a designation for the thymic carcinoma in their earlier versions. It is highly important to note that the diagnosis depends upon good radiological–pathological correlation and the absence of carcinoma elsewhere in the presence of an anterior mediastinal mass. The most common thymic carcinoma is squamous cell in origin. Others include thymic adenocarcinoma, NUT carcinoma, and salivary gland-type carcinomas of the thymus. Staging is done with the TNM system. Immunohistochemical markers have considerable overlap among the entities constituting thymic carcinoma.