Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor Mimicking Invasive Thymoma: a case report

Inf lammatory myof ibroblast ic tumor is an unusual disease that is most commonly seen in the lung and orbit and extremely rare in the mediastinum. As far as we know, there have been only two case reports of mediastinal inf lammatory myofibroblastic tumor occurring in patients over 40 years old. In literature, we found no such case of mediastinal inf lammatory myof ibroblastic tumor that can present as invasive thymoma on the basis of the image pattern. Here, we report 57-year-old woman with anterior mediastinal inf lammatory myof ibroblast ic tumor, which shows local invasion to the pericardium and central necrosis on chest CT scan. These uncommon image patterns have not been documented in literature and present diagnostic challenges. Inf lammatory myof ibroblast ic tumor, also known as an inflammatory pseudotumor, xanthomatous pseudotumor, plasma cell granuloma, etc, is an uncommon disease that most commonly occurs in the lung and orbit [1]. Although it has been reported to be found in nearly all sites of the body, anterior mediastinum is an extremely rare location. So far there have been only two case reports of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in the mediastinum of patients over 40 years of age [2]. In literature, there is no case report of inf lammatory myofibroblastic tumor mimicking invasive thymoma on the basis of image presentation. We report a 57-year-old woman who had an anter ior mediast inal inf lammatory myofibroblastic tumor, which shows an uncommon image pattern presenting diagnostic challenges.