2006 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 175-179
The patient, a 36-year-old man with a giant mass in the right posterior mediastinum, was admitted to our hospital. The mass extended from the sternoclavicular joint level to the diaphragmatic level. The preoperative diagnosis strongly suggested lipoma, but the possibility of highly differentiated liposarcoma could not be ruled out. Therefore, it was considered that resection was necessary for diagnosis and surgical treatment. The mass, measuring 8×5×20cm, had not infiltrated other organs. When observed by thoracoscopy through the first port, the tumor had a soft, yellow capsule. We considered it a benign lipoma and resected it completely. It was pathologically diagnosed as a lipoma. The postoperative course was favorable, and the patient did not develop any postoperative complications or signs of recurrence. There were reports of recurrence of mediastinal lipoma. Therefore, we considered it essential to completely resect the mediastinal lipoma in our patient. We succeeded in completely resecting the giant mediastinal tumor in our patient by thoracoscopy, which provided a good field of vision even in a narrow thoracic cavity and thus enabled less-invasive surgery. Video-assisted thoracic surgery seemed to be well indicated in our patient, who had a benign giant mediastinal tumor.