mediastinal and chest wall masses in children: a single institution study

background and objective: mediastinal masses in children are a heterogenous group of asymptomatic potentially life-threatening congenital, infectious, or neoplastic lesions that present complex diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas. materials and methods: the clinical and laboratory features of 65 patients who had open biopsies in ali-asghar hospital over 11 years were reviewed. results: seventy-two percent of cases were male and 28% were female. the age varied between 2.5 months and 19 years. eighty-four percent of lesions were malignant and 16% were benign. neurogenic tumors were the most common (36.9%). in order of frequency the following lesions were the most common neuroblastoma (mostly in posterior mediastinum), hodgkin’s and non-hodgkin’s lymphoma (mostly in middle mediastinum), and malignant small round cell tumor (mostly in chest wall). most patients were presented by fever (21.5%), dyspnea (20%) and cough (12%), especially in hodgkin’s and non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. lymphadenopathy (29.2%) and hepatosplenomegaly (13.8%) were the most frequent clinical signs. laboratory examination revealed anemia (29%), leukocytosis (35%), and high sedimentation rate (21.5%). conclusion: the clinical presentation and laboratory findings of mediastinal and chest wall masses are often non-specific and are variable, but according to their clinical data (i.e. age) and location, only few important diagnoses should be considered.