HI Ms. M,

The thymus is a organ that is essential in childhood in helping the infant/child devlop thier immune system. It is the organ where all of the mother's antibodies are stored (or at least concentrated in that area) and it serves as the command center for the immune system during the formative years of life. Over time this thymus is SUPPOSED to atrophy and eventually (i think my doctor said by age 40) be replaced by adipose tissue (fat) through a process called apoptosis. The problem in MG is that they thymus doesn't go away like it is supposed to and infact sometimes it actually becomes hyperplasic (enlarged) or devlops thyromas (tumors). Thyromas can be begin OR malignant. Because you had a begin tumor before does not rule out the possiblity of the tumor itself growing back. In fact in many people with MG if there was a thyroma present then sometimes it does grow back. Also i was reading the literature (medical) the other day and there has been a very recent discovery that there is such a thing as MICROthyromas. these are little microscopic tumors that reside in the thymus and surrounding tissue and it takes an extreamly high powered microscope to see them. back when you had the histology (analysis) of your tumor done in 1999 they did not know about micro thyromas and thus would have likely concluded that even if the thymus was enlarged that it was only "swollen" when in fact that could be b/c there might have been lots of microscopic thyromas in addition to what ever other abnormalities were discovered. If one of those micro thyromas were left in your chest (b/c like i said they not only invade the thymus but also the surrounding tissue) then it would seem possible that over the past 9 years that the micro thyroma grew until it filled up the hole. Thyromas are thymic derrrivitave tissue (basicly thymic tissue that gets really confused as to what it is supposed to be doing) and it is basicly a area of abnormal cell clustering (which the type of cells that cluster in a thyroma determine if it is benign or malignant).

please understand, i AM NOT A DOCTOR and I AM NOT A NURSE or even a medical professional. I majored in psychology in college and took 5 physiolgical psych and regular phsyio classes. I am an avid literature researcher (especially in the area of MG) and i am currently doing literature research on thymectomies b/c i am considered as a canidate for a thymectomy as i have MG and a severe form of it and my thymus is hyperplasic (enlarged). so most of what i have just told you is based up on extensive literature searches and discussions with my own surgen at Medical College in Augusta, Georgia, USA.. You may want to print this reply and take it with you to your surgeon b/c i certainly do not claim to know everything and i would feel much better if you ran this hypothesis by him and see what he thinks. if need be i can send you the link to the article about the micro thyromas (if i can find it again). just message me thorugh neurotalk and let me know if you need/want additional info (though i have about exhausted my knowledge base in this reply).

Hope this helps!
sincerely, bobcat

Hi Bobcat...
Thank you so much for that post...The last 2 post have been have been inspiring...If I can say that without sounding sick in the head...lol..When your having pain, frustrated and feel like the Dr's are not sure how to deal with me cause they havent had a case like mine..having this type of Tumor returning ....It kind of gives me hope that if I go get a second opinion that I maybe I won't be going for nothing...even though that was a very Brutal surgery...I would go through it again rather than having good days and bad and on the bads...living on Oxycodine..If it becomes a long attack...My body rejects that pain killer by making my itchy and then I have to take demerol which does'nt work as well and then I start to loose weight and end up in bed more with pain...Until it settles down..

This sight has helped me not feel like I,m alone in this battle and guided me to some very helpful information...Thank You everyone!...Mrs.M

Hi, I know this post I'm replying to is old now, but I had my thymus removed in 1992 even though there was no problem with it (it was done as part of another operation) and now, 17 years later I had been found to have an enlarged thymus - possibly a thymoma, so obvioulsy they can grow back. Unfortunately mine has grown back abnormal and I wish they'd never touched it in the first place. (the neuro says there's a chance it is scar tissue).I have MG-like symptoms, but it hasn't been confirmed. Now that want to take the thymus out!

Hi Rachary, and welcome to NeuroTalk.

You're right in saying this is an old post, and I'm concerned that your own post might get lost because your's is tacked onto the end of a thread that people may no longer frequent.

Have you considered starting your own thread so you can get replies just for you?

Removal of the thymus MAY help attenuate MG symptoms. In most cases there is little effect. It's like sticking pins in a cupie doll. Medication is the only guarantee...and it is a guarantee if sufficient doses of appropriate drugs are used. I have come to near death with this disease and only by the grace of God and lots of chemicals did I recover. Avoid surgery at all costs. It is frightfully invasive and has little chance of benefit.

I have been trying to find out about ectopic thymus and how it can grow back this is my problem....I had been going to the gym and running on the treadmill when I started having chest pain. When I checked my heart rate it was real high even when I tried to walk slow it was at 203 so my friends convinced me to go to hosp to make a long boring story short they found a mass in my neck they thought it was my thyroid. So I get referred to specialist and he did another cat scan and said the same thing at this point the mass was 3cm we scheduled surgery for two months later because I was getting married. When the Dr open me up to do thyroid surgery he got a big shock when he found this big mass which was now 5cm and pushing on my heart he was able to remove it threw the incision he made on my neck and told my husband and I that we were lucky because usually they have to crack your chest for this problem. Well it's been a year and 1 month since I had the surgery and its back. I went for follow up after having baby and Dr Thought it was thyroid again and sent me back to specialist he ordered an ultra sound of my neck and I have a 4cm egg like mass pushing on my wind pipe. The specialist told me he doesn’t want to do the surgery on me and is sending me to Birmingham to another Dr. Has anyone else heard of this growing so fast and is there another way for them to remove this I've had my fair share of surgeries and I feel like I'm playing Russian roulette by having another one.
Thanks for listing and sorry for the long story

I have heard if they do not get it all, yes it can. Thats why most Doctors when removing like to open you totally to make sure they get it all.

Hi Ishyanna,

welcome to Neurotalk!!

Wow sounds like you've been through alot lately. I can't help you with this, as I havn't had any problems with my thymus(had it removed in 2003)
Hope you get the answers you are looking for
Kate

Hi Ishyanna!
Welcome to the forum. I'm a little confused. Are you having problems on the thyroid in your neck and the thymus in your chest at the same time?

Thymus can grow back if tissue remains after removal, and I have a woman I work with that had a cancerous node on her thyroid that was removed and they keep checking to make sure that doesn't grow back. I suppose living tissue anywhere in the body can regrow if there is anything at all for it to start from.

I hope you get all the answers you need, and the proper treatment. You'll really enjoy our forum. Lots of wonderful and knowlegeable people. It's helped me a lot!

My thyroid is fine it's just this growth in my neck. I go to Dr on tuesday so I hope they can tell me what is going on..