Anterior Mediastinal Teratoma- A Case Report with Review of Literature

Abstract

Anterior mediastinal teratomas are rare germ cell tumors. We report a case of such rare tumor in a young adult male of 21 yrs old who presented with persistent cough of one and half month duration. Computed tomography of the chest confirmed the diagnosis as anterior mediastinal teratoma. Patient underwent a right anterolateral thoracotomy. Intraoperatively there was a large mass in the anterior mediastinum extending to right hemithorax. The mass was compressing the great vessels, adherent to chest wall, pericardium, and lung. Complete excision of the mass done. Patient underwent uneventful recovery. Histopathology reported as benign cystic teratoma.

Mature Cystic Teratoma of the Lung: A Case Report

“…More than 80% of them are located in the anterior mediastinum [4,8,9], space located between retrosternum and the anterior face of heart and great vessels that includes thymus, lymph nodes as well as fat and connective tissue [9]. Teratomas are equally present in boys and girls and seems to be more prevalent in adult males [8,10].…”

“…It is presumed that intrathoracic teratomas develop, in relation to the thymus, as derivatives of the third pharingeal pouch with a predilection for the upper lobes [7,10,11]. They come from pluripotent cells and make up from one or more of the three germ cell layers [1,4,5].…”

“…Other symptoms are hemoptysis, cough, back or shoulder pain, dysnea, fever, pleural effusion or bulging of the chest wall [1,11,14]. Symptons can also derive from the pressure exerted on the surrounding tissues, although superior vena cava syndrome is very uncommon [10,13,16]. The most specific sign is the expectoration of hair or trichoptysis due to bronchial communication that appears in one in ten patients [2,7,11].…”

Large Thoracic Teratoma with Gastro-intestinal Presentation

“…When it occurs, malignant transformation, now referred to as germ cell tumor with somatic-type malignancy [8], can be difficult to diagnose in its early stages because malignancy may be restricted to localized area(s) and may affect only one of the tissue components of an otherwise benign-looking tumor [8,16]. Most mature teratomas can be excised en block as local invasion is rare yet described [17]. In the absence of local invasion, recurrences are rare [18][19][20].…”

Robotically enhanced mediastinal teratoma resection: a case report and review of the literature

“…The only curative treatment is complete surgical resection, which has an excellent prognosis. [2,3] Case report A 57-year-old female patient without any important medical history presented with a chronic cough, persisting after two treatments of oral antibiotics. A chest X-ray was performed and showed an abnormal outlining of the cardiomediastinal border on the left side, suggestive for a mass in the upper anterior mediastinum.…”