Clinicopathological analysis of small-sized anterior mediastinal tumors.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the clinicopathological findings and prognosis of small-sized anterior mediastinal tumors (SSAMTs).


METHODS
A retrospective study was conducted on 43 patients who underwent surgery between January 1989 and December 2011 for SSAMTs.


RESULTS
From the preoperative radiological findings, the tumors were classified into solid (n = 28) and cystic lesions (n = 15). The pathological diagnoses of the solid lesions included thymoma (n = 24), thymic carcinoma (n = 1), mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (n = 1), teratoma (n = 1) and neurofibroma (n = 1), and those of the cystic lesions included thymic cysts (n = 8), thymoma (n = 3), bronchogenic cysts (n = 2), teratoma, (n = 1) and a pericardial cyst (n = 1). The 27 thymomas were composed of stages I (n = 22), II (n = 3), III (n = 1) and IVb (n = 1). The overall survival in the 43 patients was 97.1 % at 5 years. In the 28 patients with solid lesions, the overall survival was 95.8 % at 5 years. All patients with cystic lesions were still alive at the last follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Cystic lesions of SSAMTs were benign lesions or stage I thymoma, and most of the solid lesions of SSAMTs were stage I or II thymomas. SSAMTs are good candidates for video-assisted thoracic surgery procedures, as conversion to sternotomy can be selected based on the intraoperative findings of pericardial invasion and a rapid pathological diagnosis of thymic carcinoma.
Departments of Oncology, Immunology and Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan, motoki@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp.
Motoki
M
Yano
Hidefumi
H
Sasaki
Satoru
S
Moriyama
Yu
Y
Hikosaka
Katsuhiro
K
Okuda
Masayuki
M
Shitara
Tsutomu
T
Tatematsu
Yoshitaka
Y
Fujii
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018442:Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009455:Neurofibroma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D056346:Sternotomy; D013724:Teratoma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D013945:Thymoma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult