A Simple Guide to Thymus Disorders, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Thymus Disorders, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

“In the secret places of her thymus gland Louise is making too much of herself.
Her faithful biology depends on regulation but the white T-cells have turned bandit.
They don't obey the rules.
They are swarming into the bloodstream, overturning the quiet order of spleen and intestine.
In the lymph nodes they are swelling with pride.
It used to be their job to keep her body safe from enemies on the outside.
They were her immunity, her certainty against infection.
Now they are the enemies on the inside.
The security forces have rebelled.
Louise is the victim of a coup.

Will you let me crawl inside you, stand guard over you, trap them as they come at you?
Why can't I dam their blind tide that filthies your blood?
Why are there no lock gates on the portal vein?
The inside of your body is innocent, nothing has taught it fear.
Your artery canals trust their cargo, they don't check the shipments in the blood.
You are full to overflowing but the keeper is asleep and there's murder going on inside.
Who comes here?
Let me hold up my lantern.
It's only the blood; red cells carrying oxygen to the heart, thrombocytes making sure of proper clotting.
The white cells, B and T types, just a few of them as always whistling as they go.

The faithful body has made a mistake.
This is no time to stamp the passports and look at the sky.
Coming up behind are hundreds of them.
Hundreds too many, armed to the teeth for a job that doesn't need doing.
Not needed?
With all that weaponry?

Here they come, hurtling through the bloodstream trying to pick a fight.
There's no-one to fight but you Louise.
You're the foreign body now.”

Jeanette Winterson

The thymus is a specialized organ of the immune system.
The immune system's function is to protect the body against infections
The immune system uses the lymphocytes,
It contributes to the development of T lymphocytes

The thymus educates T-lymphocytes
To fight in the body against any parasites
Each T cell attacks a different antigen
They will find their own pathogen

Each T cell attacks a foreign substance
Which it identifies with its receptor evidence
T cells that attack the body’s own proteins
Are eliminated in the thymus after being screened

First T cells undergo Positive Selection
Those are destroyed with no interaction
Second the T cell undergoes Negative Selection
Removed are those T cells with high affinity interaction

-An original poem by Kenneth Kee

The thymus is made up of 2 identical lobes and is sited anatomically in the anterior superior mediastinum, in front of the heart and behind the sternum.

The thymus may spread to the neck region where it is linked to the thyroid gland.

This is because of the development history of the thymus which has its beginning in the brachial entoderm.

The thymus is a transient organ with immune and endocrine function (part of endocrine system that produces hormones).

It extends to its largest size at the time of puberty when it stops to grow, slowly shrinks and almost disappears.

The thymus teaches the T-lymphocytes to fight against invaders of the body.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Thymus Disorders
Chapter 2 Myasthenia Gravis
Chapter 3 Thymus Hyperplasia
Chapter 4 Thymus Cancer
Chapter 5 Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease
Chapter 6 DiGeorge Syndrome
Chapter 7 Happiness and the Thymus Thump
Chapter 8 Life and Death of Thymus Gland Cell
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Jun 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005785796

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Thymus Disorders,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2021 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Thymus Disorders, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Thymus Disorders)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

The Thymus Gland

(Chapter from A Simple Guide to Thymus Gland 2018 by Kenneth Kee)

"In the secret places of her thymus gland Louise is making too much of herself.

Her faithful biology depends on regulation but the white T-cells have turned bandit.

They don't obey the rules.

They are swarming into the bloodstream, overturning the quiet order of spleen and intestine.

In the lymph nodes they are swelling with pride.

It used to be their job to keep her body safe from enemies on the outside.

They were her immunity, her certainty against infection.

Now they are the enemies on the inside.

The security forces have rebelled.

Louise is the victim of a coup.

Will you let me crawl inside you, stand guard over you, trap them as they come at you?

Why can't I dam their blind tide that filthies your blood?

Why are there no lock gates on the portal vein?

The inside of your body is innocent, nothing has taught it fear.

Your artery canals trust their cargo, they don't check the shipments in the blood.

You are full to overflowing but the keeper is asleep and there's murder going on inside.

Who comes here?

Let me hold up my lantern.

It's only the blood; red cells carrying oxygen to the heart, thrombocytes making sure of proper clotting.

The white cells, B and T types, just a few of them as always whistling as they go.

The faithful body has made a mistake.

This is no time to stamp the passports and look at the sky.

Coming up behind are hundreds of them.

Hundreds too many, armed to the teeth for a job that doesn't need doing.

Not needed?

With all that weaponry?

Here they come, hurtling through the bloodstream trying to pick a fight.

There's no-one to fight but you Louise.

You're the foreign body now."

Jeanette Winterson

The thymus is a specialized organ of the immune system.

The immune system's function is to protect the body against infections

The immune system uses the lymphocytes,

It contributes to the development of T lymphocytes

The thymus educates T-lymphocytes

To fight in the body against any parasites

Each T cell attacks a different antigen

They will find their own pathogen

Each T cell attacks a foreign substance

Which it identifies with its receptor evidence

T cells that attack the body’s own proteins

Are eliminated in the thymus after being screened

First T cells undergo Positive Selection

Those are destroyed with no interaction

Second the T cell undergoes Negative Selection

Removed are those T cells with high affinity interaction

-An original poem by Kenneth Kee

What is the Thymus?

Thymus is a bi-lobed organ sited at the superior and anterior mediastinum.

The thymus is pinkish-gray in color, soft, and lobulated on its surfaces.

The thymus is made up of 2 identical lobes and is sited anatomically in the anterior superior mediastinum, in front of the heart and behind the sternum.

The thymus may spread to the neck region where it is linked to the thyroid gland.

This is because of the development history of the thymus which has its beginning in the brachial entoderm.

The thymus forms from the ventral part of the third pharyngeal pouch.

It is filled by lymphocytes and a medulla comprising epithelial cells organized in a concentric fashion to produce the Hassal corpuscles.

The two main parts of the thymus have distinct developmental origins:

1. The lymphoid thymocytes and

2. The thymus gland epithelial cells,.

The thymus gland epithelium is the first to develop and happens in the form of two flask-shape endodermal a diverticula which form one on either side from the third branchial pouch (pharyngeal pouch), and extend laterally and backward into the surrounding mesoderm and neural crest -derived mesenchyme in front of the ventral aorta.

At this site the thymocytes and epithelium meet and attach with connective tissue.

The pharyngeal opening of each diverticulum is soon closed but the neck of the flask continues for some time as a cellular cord.

The cells lining the flask grow and form buds of cells which become surrounded and isolated by the invading mesoderm.

During the later stages of the development of the thymus gland epithelium, hematopoietic bone-marrow precursors travel into the thymus.

Normal thymus gland development subsequently is dependent on the interaction between the thymus gland epithelium and the hematopoietic thymocytes.

The thymus is a transient organ with immune and endocrine function.

It extends to its largest size at the time of puberty when it stops to grow, slowly shrinks and almost disappears.

It comprises two lateral lobes placed in close contact along the middle line located partly in the thorax, partly in the neck and spreading from the fourth costal cartilage upward to the level of the lower border of the thyroid gland.

It is protected by the sternum and by the origins of the Sternohyoidei and Sternothyreoidei.

It reposes upon the pericardium, being disconnected from the aortic arch and great vessels by a layer of fascia.

It remains on the front and sides of the trachea behind the Sternohyoidei and Sternothyreoidei in the neck.

The two lobes normally differ in size.

They are sometimes joined through a septum to form a single mass and occasionally parted by an intermediate lobe.

The size is about 5 cm. in length, 4 cm. in breadth below, and about 6 mm. in thickness.

At birth it has a weight about 15 grams.

At puberty it has a weight about 35 grams,

After this it slowly reduces to 25 grams at twenty five years, less than 15 grams at sixty, and about 6 grams at seventy years.

Size of the Thymus Gland:

1. Birth - About 15grams

2. Puberty - About 35grams

3. Twenty-five years - 25grams

4. Sixty years - Less than 15grams

5. Seventy years - as low as 6grams

The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ and the first area for development of T cell immunological function.

The thymus is the fist lymphoid organ to be developed and grows considerably immediately after birth in reaction to postnatal antigen stimulation and the demand for abundant mature T cells.

It is really an epithelial organ in which its epithelial cells supply a reticular body containing T cells and smaller numbers of other lymphoid cells.

A symbiotic interaction is present between