A retrospective analysis of primary mediastinal tumors and cysts was performed on 42 patients who underwent surgical resection at our institution from January, 1985 to December, 1995.
The patients consisted of 27 males and 15 females. Mean age was 40 years with a range of 10 month to 76 years. The patients were composed of thymic tumor 12 cases(28.6%), germ cell tumor 8 cases(19.0%), primary cyst 7 cases(16.7%), neurogenic
tumor
6
cases(14.3%) and other miscellanious tumor 9 cases. Overall, 33(78.6%) of the tumors were histologically benign, and 9(21.4%) were malignant.
The noted clinical manifestations were respiratory symptoms such as chest pain, dyspnea and coughing. All of the patients with malignancy and 55% of the patients with benign tumor were symptomatic on presentation.
All of the patients were operated for tissue diagnosis and curative resection. All the benign tumors except two cases of sarcoidosis were performed adequate curative resection. A few patients with malignant unresectable tumors were treated with
chemotherapy or radiotherapy. There were 7(18%) postoperative complications without mortality.
In conclusion, Mediastinal tumors have long fascinated the thoracic surgeon because of their variety and unpredictability of diagnosis prior to exploration. We consider that active surgery and various combined modality can be accomplished with
satisfactory result.
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