Metastatic prostatic carcinoma presenting as an anterior mediastinal mass on gallium imaging

A great majority of mediastinal lymph node metastases originate from primary neoplasms within the thorax. Mediastinal metastases from other malignancies are not infrequently encountered but are uncommon from a prostatic primary site. Since prostatic metastases may mimic lymphomatous nodes, it is important to be aware that mediastinal adenopathy occurring in a patient with prostatic carcinoma may be caused by metastases from that site rather than from lymphoma, or be secondary to some unknown primary malignancy elsewhere in the body. The author presents a case of metastatic prostatic carcinoma in the anterior mediastinum that was detected on Ga-67 citrate imaging and confirmed on a CT scan.