title: A Case of Mediastinal Cystic Lymphangioma.
abstract: A 35-year-old Japanese man's routine chest radiography revealed an abnormal opacity. Chest computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a 5.5 cm in dia. cystic tumor located at the left anterior mediastinum. The tumor was suspected to be an asymptomatic thymic cyst, and we chose observation for the tumor. At the 3-year follow up, the cystic tumor had gradually enlarged to 7.5 cm in dia. and we thus performed a surgical resection via left video-assisted thoracic surgery. An immunohistochemical analysis showed that the cystic tumor was not a thymic cyst but rather a mediastinal cystic lymphangioma. Mediastinal cystic lymphangiomas are very rare, and they are difficult to diagnose preoperatively. Complete surgical resection is proposed for the treatment of such tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Hospital Organization Shikoku Cancer Center, Matsuyama 791-0280, Japan.hsue@mva.biglobe.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suehisa
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Motohiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Norihiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Teramoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D018191:Lymphangioma, Cystic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed