Thymic carcinoid tumor.

In this report on 3 cases of thymic carcinoid, tumors recurred in 2 patients not undergoing lymph node dissection. We review 47 cases of this disease taken from the Japanese literature, and discuss surgical procedures for reducing recurrence. In 9 of 20 cases of recurrence in encapsulated thymic carcinoid, lymph nodes were not dissected in eight. Differential diagnosis of an anterior mediastinal tumor should include thymic carcinoid, for which lymph nodes should be routinely dissected, even when the tumor is encapsulated.