A Case of Thoracoscopic Treatment for a Bronchogenic Cyst in the Anterior Mediastinum

Abstract

A 63-year-old woman who was referred to our hospital for general fatigue was found having a tumor at the anterior mediastinum on a chest CT scan. She was admitted for further examination and treatment in January 2017. The chest CT scan showed a cystic mass of 30×20mm in diameter in the anterior mediastinum. A chest MRI showed the mass, with isointensity in comparison with the muscle on T1-weighted, and slightly high intensity on T2-weighted images. Based on these findings, we preoperatively diagnosed the mass as a thymic cyst or a cystic thymoma. We performed video assisted thymectomy. Histopathology revealed the cyst lined by bronchial epithelium in the regressed thymus. It was diagnosed as bronchogenic cyst in the anterior mediastinum.

Here, we report a case of bronchogenic cyst arisen in the anterior mediastinum with a review of the literature.