Congenital thymic cyst in the retro cava position : a case report

Abstract EN

Introduction: Congenital thymic cyst (CTC) is a rare mediastinal mass and the retrocaval position of this cyst has not been reported in the medical literature so far.

Case Presentation: The present study reports on a 66-year-old female with coronary artery disease (CAD) who was scheduled for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at our hospital.

During mediastinal exploration and pericardiotomy for CABG, a large CTC was incidentally found in the retrocaval position, as a watery cyst from its anatomic location and content.

Pathological examination revealed that it was a CTC.

No cases of retrocaval position of CTC have been reported.

Thus, here we report on this case and review the previously reported cases.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first case of CTC that was identified incidentally in the retrocaval position and caused intermittent obstruction of vena cava.