[Posterior mediastinal hemangioma with extramedullary haematopoieisis]

We report a very rare coexistence of posterior mediastinal hemangioma with extramedullary haematopoieisis. A 69-year-old woman was detected to have an abnormal mass on the chest radiograph during a routine medical examination. No disorders were found by hematologic exams before and after surgery. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed a well circumscribed posterior mediastinal tumor measured 32×11 mm in diameter, located on paravertebral space. The most likely diagnosis was a benign neurogenic tumor and we were planning to remove this tumor by video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) via a right transthoracic approach. Thoracoscopic finding revealed that this tumor was brownish and soft, such as hemangioma. Initially, incisional biopsy was done to obtain definitive diagnosis. Since intraoperative microscopic examination of the biopsy specimen revealed extramedullary haematopoieisis, we obtained another larger samples and finished the operation. Interestingly, the postoperative final histological diagnosis was mediastinal hemangioma with extramedullary haematopoieis.