title: Giant chronic expanding hematoma in the chest identified 25 years after a blunt chest trauma.
abstract: We herein report the case of a 42-year-old man who presented with a huge intrathoracic mass that had grown over a period of 25 years. The initial symptom caused by the mass was dull pain in the chest. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging revealed a mosaic pattern of various signal intensities, indicating a chronic expanding hematoma. The mass was completely resected surgically. For patients who present with a slowly growing mass, particularly those with a history of tuberculous pleuritis, chest surgery or trauma, a chronic expanding hematoma should be taken into consideration. Surgical resection is the first choice of treatment for a chronic expanding hematoma caused by a blunt chest trauma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Y I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: chest injury; chronic expanding hematoma; diagnosis; surgery