Clinicopathological Analysis of Mediastinal Masses: a Single-Institute Experience

The centrally located portion of the thoracic cavity is called the mediastinum and consists of several essential organs. In the presence of various outcomes and prognostic indicators of mediastinal masses, meticulous diagnosis of these masses is considered crucial.

In this study, we analyzed all mediastinal masses observed clinically and pathologically at one institution over a period of ten years.

This is a retrospective, single-institution review of 94 patients with mediastinal masses, drawing on existing data recorded by the hospital. The study was carried out at the King Fahd University Hospital, Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Data was collected from 2009 to 2019. Participants were all patients with malignant or benign mediastinal masses admitted to the hospital, or diagnosed incidentally to have mediastinal masses during investigations for other reasons.

The mean age for developing a mediastinal mass was 33.89 ± 18.91 years of age. Most of the patients (69.1%) were symptomatic at presentation. Overall, (49.23%) of patients who were symptomatic at diagnosis had a malignant mass. Concerning pathologic diagnosis and presentation of the patient (symptomatic versus asymptomatic), there was a significant positive relationship between pathologic diagnosis and symptoms with a P value of 0.020. In our study, only 5.15% of cases experienced recurrence.

This study provides a great understanding of mediastinal tumor biology and the role of both radiotherapy and chemotherapy in increasing the survival rates of patients suffering from similar malignant conditions.