IMPACT OF THYMECTOMY IN PURE RED CELL APLASIA ASSOCIATED WITH THYMOMA
Amr A. Abdelwahab
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Tanta University Hospital
The incidence of red cell aplasia as a cause of anemia is an unusual one; five percentages of such patients may have a thymoma. The reported incidence of improvement after thymectomy is 25-30%. In this research, we reported 3 cases presented with red cell aplasia associated with thymoma. The white blood cells and platelets counts were normal in these patients with absence of reticulocytes on the peripheral smear. Total thymectomy was successful in all cases using modified hemi-clamshell incision. The marked improvement during the early postoperative period was noted in the 3 cases with normalization of their red blood cells and hemoglobin. We concluded that the successful total thymectomy is associated with improvement in the red blood cell in patients presented with pure red cell aplasia with thymoma.
December 2015