Thallium-201 uptake in a benign thymoma

A 68-year-old woman was admitted with atypical angina. A chest radiograph showed an anterior mediastinal mass that was confirmed on CT. The mass was relatively avascular and separate from the heart and great vessels. She underwent stress thallium testing that demonstrated no exercise-induced ischemia; however, an abnormal focus of thallium activity was present in the anterior mediastinum on stress and redistribution images. Cardiac catheterization demonstrated a normal left ventriculogram, coronary arteries and thoracic aorta. Subsequent surgery and pathologic examination revealed the mass to be a benign thymoma arising in the right lobe of the thymus gland