Histopathological characteristics of mediastinal tumors through 11 years

Abstract EN

Background : Mediastinal masses are rare.

However, masses that grow in the confined space of the mediastinum can be life-threatening because they involve many important structures.

Objective : To evaluate the epidemiological and histopathological characteristics of mediastinal masses over 11 years.

Design : A Retrospective Observational Study.

Setting : Cardiac Center, Bahrain Defence Force − Royal Medical Services Hospital (BDF-RMS), Bahrain.

Method : All patients who underwent surgical resection of a mediastinal mass from January 2007 to December 2017 were included in the study.

Patients’ personal characteristics and histopathological data were analyzed.

Result: Fifty-five patients underwent surgical resection of a mediastinal mass through 11 years; 38 (69.1 %) were in the anterior mediastinum, 9 (16.4 %) were in the middle mediastinum and 8 (14.5 %) were in the posterior mediastinum.

Thirty-one (56.4 %) were males and 24 (43.6 %) were females; the mean age was 46.6 years.

Nineteen (34.5%) were non-neoplastic lesions and 36 (65.5 %) were neoplastic lesions.

Ten (18.2 %) tumors were benign while 26 (47.3 %) were malignant; 13 (23.6 %) were primary and 13 (23.6 %) were metastatic.

Conclusion : In this study, the majority of the mediastinal masses occurred in the anterior mediastinum.

Complete resection of these masses can be curative in most cases.