Abstract
We report the case of a 4-year-old male with an antenatally detected superior mediastinal mass that remained stable in size. Because no aberrant artery could be detected by preoperative CT, differential diagnosis between congenital cystic lung disease and mediastinal tumor was difficult. We performed thoracoscopic-assisted surgery for resection of the mass. Intraoperative findings revealed a extra-lobar pulmonary sequestration with a thin aberrant artery measuring 2 mm in diameter. It is necessary to detect an aberrant pulmonary artery for definitive diagnosis of pulmonary sequestration. However, in some cases, accurate diagnosis is difficult because of a thin or undetectable aberrant artery. Recently, thoracoscopic surgery has been reported to be feasible and safe for the treatment of congenital cystic lung disease. Although extra-lobar pulmonary sequestration is sometimes difficult to distinguish from mediastinal tumor, thoracoscopy can be useful for intraoperative diagnosis and minimally invasive resection.
