Background: Differential diagnosis of mediastinal masses is wide and management of individual cases can be challenging. In addition to common malignancies e.g. lymphomas and thymomas. Many other benign and malignant conditions can present with mediastinal masses. Patients and Methods: We describe five patients with a diagnosis of mediastinal mass. We wish to showcase the range of diagnosis poss...

Sixty patients with anterior mediastinal neoplasms undergoing computed tomography before surgical exploration were entered in a prospective study to assess the value of computed tomography in the preoperative staging of anterior mediastinal tumours. Correct prediction of location, size, and tissue density was obtained in all 60 cases. Correct identification of the nature of the tumours was achi...

Benign mesenchymoma is a rare type of germ cell tumour. An extensive literature search revealed only one described case of mediastinal mesenchymoma in Europe and three cases in Asia. We describe our recent experience of a mediastinal mesenchymoma and present the fascinating imaging and operative findings. The preoperative diagnosis of these lesions remains difficult and therefore surgical resec...

A woman aged 67 with a history of osteoarthritis of the knee was admitted to our centre to investigate a clinical history of weeks of difficulty in walking, dysaesthesia in both lower limbs and pain at the level of the spinal column. A computerised axial tomography scan (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed which revealed a well-defined 39 mm 38 mm lesion, in the shape of an ...

The main purpose of staging in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is to assess mediastinal lymph node involvement, with thoracic CT being the main non-invasive test for this. However, given that up to 15% of patients who show no mediastinal lymph node involvement in the CT have lymph node metastasis during surgery, other examinations are required. Endoscopic ultrasonography guided fine-needle a...

Solitary fibrous tumour is a rare mesenchymal tumour of uncertain origin that occurs most frequently in the pleura, although it has also been described in extraserosal sites. The biological behaviour of the tumour is unpredictable. The case history is described of a patient diagnosed with a large symptomatic irresectable mediastinal solitary fibrous tumour who achieved a clinical, radiological ...

In the article ‘Time to refine N2 staging’ [1], Matsunaga et al. investigated the relationship between the prognosis and the location of the primary tumour and nodes (LN) involved. They suggested a classification of these patients to either cN2α, which consisted of an upper lobe tumour with clinical positive ipsilateral upper mediastinal LNs (station: 2R and 4R on the right and 2L, 4L, 5 and 6 ...

Haemangiopericytoma is a rare soft tissue tumour characterised by tightly packed tumour cells situated around thin walled endothelial lined vascular channels, ranging from capillary sized vessels to large gaping sinusoidal spaces. The tumour cells are surrounded by reticulin and are negative for muscle, nerve and epithelial markers. The diagnosis of extra-pulmonary intra-thoracic, extra-pleural...

The case of a patient with primary pulmonary Hodgkin Lymphoma simulating a mediastinal tumour is reported for its rarity and the diagnostic concerns encountered by us.