thymoma

1 9.1

A growth in the thymus, the small gland at the front of the chest

noun
/θaɪˈmoʊmə/

Specialized

: timoma

Blumberg and associates have shown that surgical resection of recurrent thymoma was associated with a 5-year survival rate of 85%, compared with 45% for those not resected.
cystic thymoma

Examples

Thymoma is defined as a neoplasm that arises from the epithelial cells of the thymus.

Academic text (2007)
Thymomas can recur after surgical excision, varying from 11-36% in invasive thymomas and up to 10% in encapsulated thymomas.

Academic text (2007)
Surgery remains a mainstay of treatment for thymoma, even recurrent disease.

Academic text (2007)
Pathology was consistent with a cystic thymoma.

Academic text (2007)
We report the case of a cystic thymoma in an adolescent male that presented as a mediastinal mass.

Academic text (2007)
Thymoma is a neoplasm arising from the epithelial cells of the thymus.

Academic text (2007)
Most thymomas are discovered incidentally or during an evaluation for myasthenia gravis.

Academic text (2007)
The disease-free interval from initial resection to recurrence may be as long as 10 years and long for encapsulated thymomas.

Academic text (2007)
The scan suggests he has a thymoma, which may require further examination.
Surgery remains a mainstay of treatment for thymoma, even in cases of recurrence.

Surface Forms

thymoma singular

thymomas plural

Morphology

thymoma = thymus (semi-transparent) = thym + oma

The structure thym(us) + -oma ('tumor') is clear to those familiar with medical morphology, but '-oma' is a specialised combining suffix not obvious to average learners.

Etymology

Thymoma comes from the name of the small chest gland, thymus, and the ending -oma meaning 'tumor', the same ending in melanoma. So a thymoma is a 'tumor of the thymus', which helps you remember it is a growth in that gland in the chest.