[Primary liposarcomas of the mediastinum]

Primary liposarcomas of the mediastinum are rare neoplasms comprising less than 1% of mediastinal tumors. While in early stages often asymptomatic they may grow to an enormous size and then exhibit various clinical symptoms mimicking lung or heart disease by compression of adjacent intrathoracic organs. Intention of surgical treatment is to relieve the symptoms and to establish the histological diagnosis. Surgery alone may be curative in some cases. The role of additional radio- and chemotherapy remains questionable. We report two cases of primary mediastinal liposarcomas that were treated surgically in our institution.