Vol. 1 Issue 2 Part A

Thymic carcinoma with a prevalence of only 5% of all mediastinal tumors is a rare entity in itself. Further its occurrence in the neck as an ectopic mass is quite uncommon. We were presented with a case of anterior neck swelling reported as papillary carcinoma of thyroid on Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology and referred to our hospital. Further investigations at our institute, showed basaloid cells in nesting and trabecular pattern on modified papanicolau smears and it was finally diagnosed as thymic carcinoma using ancillary studies. Thymic carcinoma needs to be considered in the differential diagnosis of a suspected papillary thyroid carcinoma.