thymoma and hypogammaglobulinaemia
Last reviewed 01/2018
These disorders may occur together in patients over 40 years of age. The patient has a mild hypogammaglobulinaemia but usually retains some IgA production.
Chronic and recurrent infections do not usually present a problem to these patients. The main difficulties arise from autoimmune phenomena such as neutropaenia, haemolytic anaemia, and sometimes myasthenia gravis.
The thymic tumour is often found on routine chest X-ray.
Surgical removal of the tumour is ineffective.