title: [Primary mediastinal tumors in children--comparison with mediastinal tumors in adults].
abstract: During the past 43 years, 628 patients with a primary mediastinal tumor underwent surgical operation in our institution. Of those patients, 106 patients (16.9%) were children of 15 yr of age or less and 522 patients (83.1%) were adults. 47 (44.3%) of the 106 children had neurogenic tumors, while 21 patients (19.8%) had a teratoma. 189 (36.2%) of the 522 adults had thymoma and 89 patients (17.1%) had teratoma. In the 106 children there were 71 benign tumor patients (66.9%) and 35 malignant tumor patients (33.1%). There were 277 (53.1%) benign and 245 (46.95) malignant tumors in the 522 adults. The adults had significantly more malignant tumors than the children (p < 0.01). In our series of malignant mediastinal tumors in children, 14 patients (13.3%) had a lymphoma and 11 patients (10.5%) had a neuroblastoma. On the other hand, in the adults, 127 patients (24.3%) had a thymoma and 66 patients (12.6%) had a lymphoma. Regarding benign mediastinal tumors, in children, 30 patients (28.5%) had a ganglioneuroma and 19 patients (18.0%) had a teratoma. In the adults, 68 patients (13.0%) had a teratoma and 62 patients (11.9%) had a thymoma. In the clinical manifestation, 51 child patients (48.1%) and 191 adult patients (36.6%) were asymptomatic. As symptoms due to compression or direct invasion to adjacent structures, dyspnea was seen in 16 child patients (15.1%), and chest pain occurred in 59 adult patients (11.3%). Dyspnea was significantly more common in children than in in adults (p < 0.01). Emergency operations were performed in children more than in adults.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Surgery, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akashi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakahara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005729:Ganglioneuroma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D013724:Teratoma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology