Abstracts: Dural ectasia is circumferential expansion or dilatation of the dural sac, and has been frequently reported in association with type 1 neurofibromatosis (NF1). It should be differentiated from posterior mediastinal tumors such as neurofibroma, neuroblastoma, and ganglioneuroma because NF-1 has a high risk of tumor formation. In the spinal deformities of NF-1 patients, despite the sco...

Introduction: Intra-thoracic goiter refers to the extension of enlarged thyroid tissue into the thoracic inlet. This condition can produce symptoms of compression on adjacent organs and can sometimes be accompanied by malignant transformation. Therefore surgical treatment is almost always necessary. In order to remove the pathology with the fewest post-operative complications, selection of the ...

BACKGROUND While it is a rare entity, spinal angiolipomas are well-defined benign tumors that have been described sporadically in the literature starting from the late 1800s. Composed of mature lipomatous and angiomatous elements, these tumors manifest neurological symptoms due to progressive spinal cord or root compression. We present a case of a thoracic spinal angiolipoma and review the rele...

Intra-thoracic desmoid tumors are exceedingly rare tumors in the pediatric population, and can present with compression of cardiopulmonary structures and respiratory compromise. Surgical and anesthetic management of these tumors are challenging. We report the case of a 14-year-old male who presented with dyspnea, found to have a large intra-thoracic mass that was critically compressing his trac...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether middle-aged and older individuals with impaired fasting glucose (IFG), but no clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease, exhibit abnormal changes in proximal thoracic aortic stiffness or left ventricular (LV) mass when compared with healthy counterparts. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS From the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, 2,240 subjects with normal fast...

Intrathoracic gossypiboma, a retained surgical sponge in the thoracic cavity, is a rare but serious complication of thoracic surgeries. A 70-year-old man presented with an eight-month history of cough. He had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery eight years ago. The posteroanterior chest X-ray revealed a well-marginated homogeneous opacity at the left hemithorax with striped appearance in t...

INTRODUCTION Spinal angiolipoma is a benign uncommon neoplasm composed of mature lipocytes admixed with abnormal blood vessels. They account for only 0.04% to 1.2% of all spinal tumors. We present a case of thoracic epidural angiolipoma treated by combining radical resection with instrumented spinal fixation, without any surgical complication. CASE PRESENTATION A 32-year-old Asian woman prese...

BACKGROUND Chronic thoracic pain after cardiac surgery is a serious condition affecting many patients. The aim of this study was to identify predictors for chronic thoracic pain after sternotomy in cardiac surgery patients by analysing patient and perioperative characteristics. METHODS A follow-up study was performed in 120 patients who participated in a clinical trial on pain levels in the e...

Background: The grading evaluation of atlas based auto-segmentation (ABAS) of organs at risk (OARs) in thorax was studied. Materials and Methods: Forty patients with thoracic cancer were included in this study, and for each thirteen thoracic OARs were delineated by an experienced radiation oncologist. The patients were randomly grouped into the training and the test dataset (20 each). The inves...