title: Cystic hygroma reconsidered: hamartoma or neoplasm? Primary culture of an endothelial cell line from a massive cervicomediastinal hygroma with bony lymphangiomatosis.
abstract: A young woman presented with massive enlargement of a giant cervicomediastinal cystic hygroma, which communicated in part with the thoracic duct and was associated with generalized bony lymphangiomatosis. Modern imaging and sophisticated intraoperative physiologic monitoring made one-stage resection feasible. Tissue culture of explants of the hygroma yielded a primary endothelial cell line still surviving after 18 months, which, like the cyst-lining endothelium in the original resected specimen, reacted positively for Factor VIII-associated antigen. These findings, in conjunction with the histologic picture, support the notion that cystic hygroma represents an expanding proliferating endothelial growth process and not simply a sequestered lymphatic receptacle.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000941:Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004727:Endothelium / Q000473:pathology; D005169:Factor VIII / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008202:Lymphangioma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D014841:von Willebrand Factor
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D014841:von Willebrand Factor; D005169:Factor VIII