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Abstract
- 1.1. Examination of 350 thymus glands, of which 150 were removed from patients dying suddenly, confirmed the well-known facts about the anatomy, histology, and involution of the thymus.
- 2.2. Of the 150 thymus glands examined in patients dying suddenly, fourteen were found to contain lymphoid follicles with germinal centers in the medulla.
- 3.3. It was impossible to set up significant standards of weight for the normal thymus since great variations were found in the weight, the amount of thymic tissue, and the amount of adipose tissue present. Hence, the weight of the thymus as an index of pathologic change was considered to have little value. The ten thymus glands in this series of patients with myasthenia gravis apparently were no larger than many normal glands.
- 4.4. Examination of ten thymus glands, none of which contained a tumor, removed at operation from patients with myasthenia gravis showed constant changes.
- 4.1.a. In all there was some age involution. This varied from a slight degree of involution to marked separation of the thymic lobules by adipose tissue.
- 4.2.b. In each case there was an increase in the number of lymphocytes present in the thymus. This consisted of an infiltration of the medulla with large numbers of lymphocytes and usually a relative increase in the size and density of the cortex. The normal sharp differentiation between cortex and medulla was lost.
- 4.3.c. In seven of the cases, abnormal numbers of lymphoid follicles with germinal centers were present in the medulla.
- 4.4.d. There was no epithelial hyperplasia and no constant change in the character and number of the Hassall corpuscles.
- 4.1.
- 5.5. In six autopsied cases of myasthenia gravis examined which had not undergone operation there was no generalized lymphoid hyperplasia. The changes found in the thymus in myasthenia gravis were not part of such a generalized lymphoid hyperplasia.
- 6.6. The thymus was examined in individuals with Addison's disease, acromegaly, and hyperthyroidism.
- 6.1.a. In seven individuals with Addison's disease, the thymus of three showed changes like those in myasthenia gravis.
- 6.2.b. The thymus glands in five cases of acromegaly showed a striking lack of involution. In addition, two of these glands showed the changes found in myasthenia gravis.
- 6.3.c. In twenty thymus glands examined from individuals with hyperthyroidism, eighteen showed a striking lack of involution. In addition, the changes found in myasthenia gravis were present in five.
- 6.1.
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© 1943 Published by Elsevier Inc.
