ArticleEuropean radiology2016
Normal thymus in adults: appearance on CT and associations with age, sex, BMI and smoking.
Article in European radiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Thymus alterations and susceptibility to immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis.Nature medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Thymic hyperplasia in patients with acromegaly: imaging-based assessment and clinical implications.Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2026Article
- Thymic Involution and Function in People With HIV and General Population Controls: A Cross-Sectional Analysis From Two Danish Cohort Studies.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Thymic evolution on serial CT in glucocorticoid-treated pediatric pneumonia: a retrospective analysis.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- CT-Based Thymic Morphology as an Imaging Surrogate of Immune Ageing and Its Association with Coronary Artery Calcification-A Hypothesis-Generating Observational Study.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Age-associated changes in major lymphocyte subsets and sex-specific patterns in healthy Chinese adults.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Thymic health consequences in adults.Nature · 2026Article
- Article
- Mechanism and intervention strategy of thymus atrophy in cancer immunotherapy.American journal of cancer research · 2026Review
- Radiographic evidence of thymic involution in hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity score-matched study in viral cirrhosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Thymic Hyperplasias in Practice: Clinical Context, Histological Clues, and Management Implications.Cancers · 2025Review
- The hidden burden: incidentalomas detected on abdominopelvic computed tomography in bariatric surgery candidates - a single-center experience.Journal of medicine and life · 2025Observational
- Automated Quantitative Evaluation of Age-Related Thymic Involution on Plain Chest CT.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2025Article
- Impact of CAR T cell therapy on thymus size in children and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Heterogeneity of thymic output in the elderly and its association with sex and smoking.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Development and validation of AI-based automatic segmentation and measurement of thymus on chest CT scans.BMC medical imaging · 2025Article
- Thymic characteristics in patients with autoimmune diseases: a multicentre radiological observational study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Multidetector computed tomography evaluation of normal thymus and variations with age.Journal of minimal access surgery · 2025Article
- Thymus Degeneration in Women and the Influence of Female Sexual Hormones on Thymic Epithelial Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Differentiation and characterization of non-thymomatous ocular myasthenia gravis children with CT.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate CT appearance and size of the thymus in association with participant characteristics. MATERIALS AND
methods2540 supposedly healthy participants (mean age 58.9 years, 51 % female) were evaluated for the CT appearance of thymic glands with four-point scores (according to the ratio of fat and soft tissue), size and morphology. These were correlated with participants' age, sex, BMI and smoking history.
resultsOf 2540 participants, 1869 (74 %) showed complete fatty replacement of the thymus (Score 0), 463 (18 %) predominantly fatty attenuation (Score 1), 172 (7 %) half fatty and half soft-tissue attenuation (Score 2) and 36 (1 %) solid thymic gland with predominantly soft-tissue attenuation (Score 3). Female participants showed less fatty degeneration of the thymus with higher thymic scores within age 40-69 years (P < 0.001). Participants with lower thymic scores showed higher BMI (P < 0.001) and were more likely to be former smokers (P < 0.001) with higher pack-years (P = 0.04).
conclusionsVisual assessment with four-point thymic scores revealed a sex difference in the fatty degeneration of the thymus with age. Women show significantly higher thymic scores, suggesting less fat content of the thymus, during age 40-69 years. Cigarette smoking and high BMI are associated with advanced fatty replacement of the thymus. KEY POINTS: 74% of participants (mean age 58.9 years) demonstrated complete fatty thymus. Women show less fatty thymus compared to men at ages 40-69 years. Smoking and high BMI are associated with advanced fatty degeneration in thymus.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.