Benign thymic cysts in Hodgkin's disease: report of a case and review of published cases.

Mediastinal masses are a frequent finding in patients with Hodgkin's disease, and usually represent either mediastinal lymphadenopathy or a diseased thymus gland.1 In some rare patients, however, the mediastinal mass may be due to diffuse thymic hyperplasia2 or benign thymic cysts.3 In each of the 10 reported cases of thymic cysts in Hodgkin's disease, the diagnosis of the thymic cysts was made either during investigations for persistent mediastinal mass after completion of radiotherapy or chemotherapy or during investigation of the mediastinal mass at "relapse."3 -7 In this report we describe a patient with Hodgkin's disease in whom thymic cysts were diagnosed at presentation; the cysts resolved completely after effective chemotherapy.