Relapsing thymic carcinoma during pregnancy.

A 23 year old woman, who was known to be in remission from thymic carcinoma, presented in her first trimester. She had previously been treated with radiation and chemotherapy. Her pregnancy was complicated by fever and contractions at 30 weeks and ended with the birth of a live preterm male infant. Subsequent investigation revealed a massive relapse of her mediastinal tumor. This case reinforces the devastating consequences that pregnancy has on thymic hyperplasia. Of nine previously reported cases, five of the women died either during pregnancy or within six months and only one was alive longer than five years. Therapeutic abortion should be considered in the pregnant woman with known thymic neoplasia.