Akitoshi Tatsumi

Aneurysm of coronary arteriovenous fistula presenting as a calcified mediastinal mass

A 61-year-old woman with a giant aneurysm of the coronary arterial fistula between the left anterior descending coronary artery and the main pulmonary artery underwent aneurysmal resection and closure of the fistula. This was a very unusual case with rare congenital malformation with secondary atherosclerotic change.

Successful treatment of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the carina

We successfully treated a 33-year-old man with mucoepidermoid carcinoma at the carina. Through preoperative spiral computed tomography with multiplanar and three-dimensional reconstructions, the lesion extended along the right main bronchus across the orifice of the right upper lobe. He underwent a carinal resection plus right upper lobectomy and reconstruction of the carina. He shows neither anastomotic complication nor recurrence of disease 1 year after surgery. Spiral computed tomography was used to evaluate the preoperative and postoperative state of the central airway.

Metastatic thyroid cancer manifesting as a mediastinal mass in a man with an aberrant right subclavian artery.

We treated a case of thyroid cancer manifesting as a mediastinal mass, completely resecting it without difficulty despite a vascular anomaly. An asymptomatic 42-year-old woman was admitted with a mediastinal mass. Ten years earlier, she had undergone surgery for a thyroid tumor diagnosed as follicular adenoma. She also had an aberrent subclavian artery anomaly with a non-recurrent laryngeal nerve, radiographically recognized preoperatively. The mediastinal mass was completely resected through median sternotomy. Pathological examination showed the previous thyroid tumor had been follicular carcinoma, and that the mass was a mediastinal-node metastasis from the thyroid cancer. Preoperative recognition of the vascular anomaly was helpful in completing resection, in addition to safe, quick surgical procedures.

Carcinosarcoma of the lung mis-diagnosed preoperatively as a mediastinal tumor

Carcinosarcoma of the lung is an uncommon tumor and is rarely preoperatively correctly diagnosed. The prognosis of patients with carcinosarcoma is extremely poor, despite treatment. A 79-year-old man was mis-diagnosed preoperatively as having a malignant mediastinal tumor. Excision of the tumor with segmentectomy of the lung revealed it was composed of a variety of carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements, which is a clear manifestation of the histogenetic totipotentiality of carcinosarcoma. He was subsequently treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and irradiation. He remains well at sixteen months after the operation, to date. Here we report this rare true case of a carcinosarcoma, focusing on the difficulty of a correct preoperative diagnosis.

A case of tuberculous granulomatous mediastinitis and constrictive pericarditis simulating malignant mediastinal tumor

A case is 40-year-old man. He presented anterior chest pain. Pericardial effusion was pointed out and a tuberculin skin test was positive. Tuberculous pericarditis was highly suspected, so INH and RFP were medicated. After 6-month medication pericardial effusion decreased, but right pleural effusion appeared on chest X-ray. Chest CT revealed a thickening of pericardium extend to anterior mediastinal mass. Echocardiogram revealed a pressure gradient in right ventricle, which was compressed by the thickened pericardium. We underwent median sternotomy in order to rule out neoplastic diseases. Intraoperative pathologic diagnosis was granulomatous mediastinitis and pericarditis, so we resected granuloma as much as possible to decompress the heart. Although Mycobacterium tuberculosis was not found in the resected granuloma, it was most probable pathogen. He received additional antituberculous chemotherapy for 6 months.