Mediastinal tumours and cysts. A review of 91 cases.
The experience with 91 primary tumours of the mediastinum during a period of 20 years is presented. A total of 24 separate cell types were identified. The most frequent lesions were thyroid tumours, neurogenic tumours, cysts and tumours of lymphatic origin. About 50% of the tumours were discovered by chance in asymptomatic patients undergoing routine chest examination. Twenty per cent of the patients with malignant lesions were free of symptoms. The pre-operative diagnosis was uncertain in most instances, and early surgical exploration is therefore recommended. Seventy-four patients underwent surgery and the operative mortality rate was 2.7%. The long-term survival was closely related to the histological nature of the neoplasm.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma; D008297:Male; D008476:Mediastinal Cyst / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D008637:Mesenchymoma; D008875:Middle Aged; D009380:Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue / Q000601:surgery; D013724:Teratoma; D013945:Thymoma; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery