Preoperative evaluation of thymic epithelial tumors and imaging pitfalls

We summarized the preoperative evaluation notes of thymic epithelial tumors and the associated imaging pitfalls. 1) It is important to assess invasion into cardiovascular structures and lung adjacent to thymic epithelial tumors, and electrocardiographic gated CT could help evaluate invasion of these structures, which are influenced by cardiac motion artifacts. Thymic epithelial tumors tend to show pleural dissemination, and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) is useful to diagnose this status, although tiny, focal atelectasis sometimes mimics pleural dissemination. 2) There were various mediastinal tumors, for example, germ cell tumors, malignant lymphoma, and mediastinal metastases that resembled thymoma.