[Surgical analysis of mediastinal lymphangioma--analysis of 7 cases]

Mediastinal lymphangioma is a very rare disease. In this study, we evaluated 7 surgically treated cases of mediastinal lymphangioma. Four males and 3 females with ages ranging from 5 months to 74 years (average 31.4 years) were examined. Four patients were asymptomatic but had abnormal shadows on their chest X-ray. Of the remaining patients, one had hoarseness and another had superior vena cava syndrome and both had dyspnea. The other patient was discovered because of cervical tumor. Multiple lymphangiomas were found in only 2 patients. One patient had 4 tumors and the other had 2 tumors in the mediastinum. Of all lymphangiomas, 2 were found in the superior mediastinum, 2 in the anterior mediastinum, 3 in the median mediastinum and 3 in the posterior mediastinum. All patients had cystic lymphangioma including 1 with capillary lymphangioma and 1 with cavernous lymphangioma. Median sternotomy was performed in 3 of the patients and posterolateral thoracotomy was performed in the remainder. The cervical tumor was removed by local incision. Complete resection of the lymphangiomas was performed and no recurrence was observed after surgery.