projapoti

Hey Hilery..thanks for your question.
To be honest, this report sounds pretty non-descript to me..i.e. the radiologist really wasn't sure what (s)he was looking at because the mediastinal view wasn't too clear. This is by NO means anything bad; the radiologist was just commenting on the anatomy of the area. Now, he mentions "differential diagnosis"...this just means that, when looking at your x-ray, these are the following possibilities that can happen.

thymic neoplasms = a "new growth" on the thymus. It does not in any way shape or form have to be cancer..just a growth of new cells (kinda like a skin tag but made of thymic tissue)

cysts = a fluid filled sac

hyperplasia = overgrowth of the normal cells of the thymus.

The margin of the mass is not optimally defined = he can't really separate the normal tissue from the new/abnormal tissue of your thymus. At this point, this is neither good nor bad.

Differential diagnosis would include invasive or noninvasive thymomas at the margin with the mass, and adjacent mediastinal fat is not sharp; it could possibly be locally invasive, but there is no peripheral spread. = this whole thing means that it could be something that is invading the tissue of your thymus, and it COULD be cancer, but he is not sure. I must stress VERY STRONGLY to you that this report by NO MEANS says that you have cancer. All it is saying is that it is worth it to watch your thymus.

One good thing that was mentioned was that "there was no peripheral spread". This means that, whatever is going on in your thymus does not involve anything else important in the area--this is very encouraging.

My guess would be that you will either have another x-ray in a few months to compare if your thymic anatomy changes, or perhaps a biopsy depending on your symptoms.