Although mature teratomas are a common cause of anterior mediastinal tumors, they rarely arise in other mediastinal compartments. We describe a 16-year-old boy with a 20×10 cm mature cystic teratoma in the posterior mediastinum. This case emphasizes the importance of correct diagnosis if a mediastinal mass with the typical features of a mature teratoma-such as fat, cystic compartments, calcific...

Mediastinal paraganglioma is a rare and slow growing neurogenic tumor. Here, we describe a 49-year-old woman with a non-functional posterior mediastinal paraganglioma. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for tumor excision failed due to massive bleeding. The tumor was excised successfully by lateral thoracotomy with bipolar electrocautery 1 week after the first operation. Mediastinal paragangl...

We report the case of a 33-year-old white female patient. Her personal history was unremarkable. She presented with a three-month history of progressive dysphagia, which was accompanied by vomiting after eating, weight loss (8 kg), and asthenia. Physical examination was normal. Laboratory test results showed microcytic hypochromic anemia (hemoglobin, 10.2 g/dL; mean corpuscular volume, 69 fL; a...

We report 3 cases of patients with bronchogenic cyst arising in the posterior mediastinum. The patients were a 19-year-old male, a 36-year-old female and a 33-year-old female, whose cysts were detected as abnormal shadows in the chest. In 2 of them, neurogenic tumors were suspected preoperatively. We performed thoracoscopic resection for the 3 tumors. Bronchogenic cysts may occur ectopically, a...

BACKGROUND Posterior mediastinum is a very rare site of ectopic thyroid and such cases are usually identified incidentally by radiography. CASE PRESENTATION A 74 year-old Caucasian male was operated for a mass located in the right posterior mediastinum. Diagnosis of thyroid tissue was confirmed intra-operatively by frozen section and the mass was resected totally. He is well without any probl...

Background. NOTES techniques allow transesophageal access to the mediastinum. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of transesophageal biopsy of thoracic vertebrae. Methods. Nonsurvival experiments on four 50-kg porcine animals were performed. Transesophageal access to the mediastinum was attained using submucosal tunneling technique. Results. The posterior mediastinum was success...

Several examination methods are now available for diagnosis of intrathoracic goiter; diagnosis of suspicion is made by conventional plain radiography of the thorax, clinical findings being often normal or non-characteristic. If the iodine scintigram shows accumulation in the tumor, we can be practically sure of the diagnosis of an intrathoracic goiter. In case of a negative iodine scan we can o...

The posterior mediastinum contains several structures that can produce a wide variety of pathologic conditions. Descending thoracic aorta, esophagus, azygos and hemiazygos veins, thoracic duct, lymph nodes, adipose tissue, and nerves are all located in this anatomical region and can produce diverse abnormalities. Although chest radiography may detect many of these pathologic conditions, compute...

An arteriovenous malformation is an anomaly of capillary development that results in a direct connection between branches of an artery and veins, with no intervening capillary network. Vascular malformations of the mediastinum presenting as mediastinal masses are very rare. We report a histologically proven case of a posterior mediastinal arteriovenous malformation in a 42-year-old man that was...