Approach to the patient with Graves' disease and an anterior mediastinal mass

A patient with hyperthyroidism and an anterior mediastinal mass presents a diagnostic challenge. The differential diagnosis warrants exclusion of a malignancy. In such cases, the CT scan helps to define the anterior mediastinal lesion. Our patient had benign thymic hyperplasia that was predicted by CT. The association of Graves' and thymic hyperplasia, though not widely recognized, can be reasonably ascertained using the clinical history and CT findings. Appropriate treatment of the hyperthyroidism usually leads to thymic regression.

Duke Scholars

Author Warner Miller Burch Jr. Medicine, Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition