A 40-year-old man presented with a complaint
of chest pain. The patient underwent percutaneous
treatment for a hydatid cyst of the liver three
months ago. Sagittal (Figure
1a) and coronal
(Figure
1b) contrast-enhanced thoracic computed
tomography revealed a retrosternal calcified mass. The patient underwent thoracoscopic resection with
preliminary diagnoses of a complicated hydatid cyst,
cystic teratoma, or malignant mediastinal tumor.
Following resection, the lesion was unable to be
removed from the thoracoscopic port hole due to
ossification (Figure
2). It was removed with a utility
thoracotomy. Histopathological examination result
was reported as type 2 thymoma according to the
Masaoka system.
Figure 1: Retrosternal calcified mass
is seen in the sagittal (a) and coronal
(b) contrast-enhanced thoracic
computed tomography images.
Figure 2: Ossification is seen in the resected material as
macroscopic.
Masses containing mediastinal ossification are
rarely seen.[1] Thymoma is one of the most common mediastinal tumors. However, ossification is very rare
and reported in the literature only as case reports.[2-4]
As in the presented case, type 2 thymoma may exhibit
extensive ossification.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to
the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research
and/or authorship of this article.