General Information

An unpaired organ located in the mediastinal cavity anterior to and above the heart

 Consists of two encapsulated lobes.

 Lobes are divided into lobules consisting of a cortex and medulla.

 Contains lymphoid tissue.

 Important in the development of immune response in newborn.

 Essential to the maturation of the thymic lymphoid cells called T cells which enter the
   circulation as lymphocytes.

 Tumours may be encapsulated or invade adjacent structure.

 Gross appearance is similar to thyroid gland.

 Thymus cancers rarely spread outside the chest.