Thymus Hyperplasia

Synonyms

Gland Hyperplasia, Thymus

Gland Hyperplasias, Thymus

Hyperplasia of Thymus Gland

Hyperplasia, Thymic

Hyperplasia, Thymus

Hyperplasias, Thymic

Thymic Hyperplasia

Thymic Hyperplasias

Thymus Gland Hyperplasia

Thymus Gland Hyperplasias

Enlargement of the thymus. A condition described in the late 1940's and 1950's as pathological thymic hypertrophy was status thymolymphaticus and was treated with radiotherapy. Unnecessary removal of the thymus was also practiced. It later became apparent that the thymus undergoes normal physiological hypertrophy, reaching a maximum at puberty and involuting thereafter. The concept of status thymolymphaticus has been abandoned. Thymus hyperplasia is present in two thirds of all patients with myasthenia gravis. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992; Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 19th ed, p1486)