The use of computed tomography to evaluate suspected mediastinal tumors

Thirty patients with suspected mediastinal tumors were evaluated by computed tomography (CT) at UCLA Medical Center. Twenty patients with myasthenia gravis were examined for possible thymomas, benign and malignant; and 10 patients were studied for other mediastinal masses (including teratoma, seminoma, mediastinal lipomatosis, carcinoma, lymphoma, and paravertebral abscess). The CT scan was found useful in several respects: (1) yielding information not available by conventional radiographic techniques; (2) defining the anatomical location and extent of mediastinal tumors; (3) detecting pulmonary metastasis and involvement of mediastinal nodes in cases of malignancy; and (4) establishing the diagnosis of benign mediastinal fatty masses. On the basis of our early experience, we believe CT is a valuable adjunct in the preoperative assessment of patients with suspected mediastinal tumors.