01243nas a2200241   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001100055653001100066653001200077653002100089653001600110100001400126700001300140700001300153700001500166700001600181245003200197300001200229490000700241520073900248022001400987       1994                            d  c1994 Dec10aFemale10aHumans10aleprosy10aMediastinal Cyst10aMiddle Aged1 aShimada T1 aSakata N1 aMiyaji M1 aMatsuoka T1 aMatsumura K00a[Two cases of thymic cyst].  a1217-220 v323 a<p>Thymic cysts were diagnosed by thoracotomy in two women with leprosy, both 64 years old, within 12 months. Both were asymptomatic and an abnormal mediastinal shadow on an annual screening chest radiograph was a clue to the diagnosis in both cases. According to retrospective studies it took at least six or seven years for the thymic cysts to become large enough to be detected. Real-time echography was effective in the diagnosis of a cystic lesion in one case. Thymic cysts are important cystic lesions rarely found in the anterior mediastinum. A resective operation is thought to be indispensable to differentiate them from thymomas accompanied by large cystic degeneration and from thymic cysts accompanied by malignancies.</p>  a0301-1542