• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.408-412
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• 1997

We have experienced 27 cases of primary medistinal tumors and cyst from April, 1986 to April 1996. At Masan Samsung General Hospital. The results of the anslysed were as follows 1. Of 27 medistinal tumors and c,pests, 9 patients were male and 18 patients were female(m : f= 1 : 2) 2. The most common chief complaint was chest discomfort or pain(8 cases 30 %) and 17 patients(63%) were asymptomatic. 3. The most common primary medistinal tumor was Neurogenic tumor in 9 cases(33 %) followed by Thymoma in 7 cases(26 %), teratoma in 6 cases(22 %) 4. The incidence of malignancy of all case was 3 cases(11 %), all cases were symptomatic and the most common malignancy was malig. thymoma(3 cases,43 %) 5. The anterior mediastinum was the most common tumor location with 15 cases(56 %) followed by posterior 11(41 %) and middle mediastinum 1(4 %). Anterior mediastinum tumors were predominantly thymomas and teratoma and posterior mediastinal tumors were neurogenic tumors 6. Complete removal of tumor was achieved in 26 cases(96 %) and open biopsy was done on 1 case 7. Postoperative complications were continued lumbar shunt drainage in 1 case and wound infection in 1 case 8. There was no case of postoperative mortality and good clinical course in surgically completely rejected cases

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.67-70
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• 2007

A thymic carcinoma is a rare malignant neoplasm of the thymus epithelium, which can be distinguished from a benign or invasive thymoma. Contrary to a thymoma, the association of a thymic carcinoma and autoimmune disease is rare, with only a few cases having been reported. Herein, a case of thymic carcinoma diagnosed concurrently with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is reported. A 49 year-old man presented at our clinic with myalgia. He was diagnosed with SLE, based on an oral ulcer, lymphopenia, and positive ANA and anti-Sm antibodies. Incidentally, a routine chest X-ray showed a large mediastinal mass. Pathological examination of the mediastinal mass revealed an undifferentiated thymic carcinoma, of WHO classification type C. Further work-up for staging showed multiple bone and lung metastases. With a palliative aim, he received systemic chemotherapy, but refused further chemotherapy after the $2^{nd}$ course. Currently, the patient has not been followed up since the chemotherapy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.780-785
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• 1997

Mediastinal tumor had been fascinated by its location on heart, great vessels, esophagus, and nervous tissue, its convenience of surgical treatment and superiority of its operative result. Between January 1989 and June 1995, eighty-seven patients with mediastinal tumor which were treated surgically in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Asan Medical Center, School of Medicine, University of Ulsan. To provide the appropriate surgical management of mediastinal tumor, the demographic data, diagnostic evaluation, clinical presentation, location, size, operative finding and histopathologic distribution were reviewed and we analyzed relativity between invasiveness in chest computed tomographic finding or invasiveness on operative finding and histopathologic invasiveness. The anterosuperior mediastinum was the most commonly involved site of a mediastinal tumor(57%), followed by the posterior mediastinum(35%) and middle mediastinum(8%). The most frequently encountered tumors were thymic neoplasia(31%), followed by primary cyst(22%), neurogenic tumor(22%) and teratoma(10%) in decreasing order of frequency. Histopathologically invasive tumors were present in 17 patients(20%) and its site included anterosuperior mediastinum(16%) and posterior mediastinum(4%). All patients in this study underwent chest CT. In chest CT's finding, 15 patients(17%) showed invasiveness. A total excision of the tumor was performed 80 patients(92%), subtotal excision 6 patients(7%) and biopsy only 1 patient(2%). In operative finding, 14 patients(16%) were suspected invasiveness. The mean size of the tumor was 6.0$\pm$ 3.2cm. In anterosuperior mediastinum, the mean size was 6.2$\pm$3.1cm, in middle mediastinum, it was 3.9$\pm$1.1cm, in posterior mediastinum, it was 5.8$\pm$2.6cm. In malignant tumors, the mean size was 7.3$\pm$4.6cm, in benign tumor, it was 5.5$\pm$2.6cm(P<0.05). Relativity between histopathological invasiveness(17 patients) and invasiveness in chest CT's finding(15 patients) included sensitivity 35%, specificity 87% and predictability 35%, relativity between histopathological invasiveness(17 patients) and invasiveness on operative finding included sensitivity 52%, specificity 93% and predictability 64%. In conclusion, since it was proved that the compatibility of preoperative chest CT findings or operative findings and histopathological invasiveness is quite low, it is considered that wide excision of the mediastinal tumor except cystic lesion including adjacent tissues would yield better postoperative results.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.392-396
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• 2002

Background: Video-thoracoscopy is known to be an useful method to provide accurate pre-resectional staging in patients with lung cancer in addition to the conventional radiologic studies and mediastinoscopy, for the pleural cavity is inspected directly and biopsy specimens call be obtained. This study is undertaken to evaluate how video-thoracoscopy can be used in deciding pre-resectional stage Material and Method: Video-thoracoscopy was performed in patients with lung cancer who were scheduled for surgical resection based on the radiologic staging and mediastinoscopic biopsy. 37 patients were included in this study. Pre-thoracoscopically 18 cases were in TNM stage 1, 7 in stage 2, and 12 in stage 3. Result: In 15 of 37 cases, video-thoracoscopy could not be performed effectively due to heavy adhesions in the pleural cavity, diaphragmatic and chest wall invasion of tumor and bulky tumor mass es. Mediastinal lymph nodes were positive postresectionally in 6 of these 15 cases. In 22 cases, video-thoracoscopy was performed as usual. Positive mediastinal lymph nodes were identified in 2 cases and exploratory thoracotomy was prevented. Surgical resection were carried out in remaining 20 cases and 5 cases among them had positive mediastinal lymph nodes. Conclusion: We believe that it is difficult to perform pre-thoracotorny video-thoracoscopy for all lung cancer patients for there were many cases that thoracoscory could not be undertaken doe to heavy adhesions in the pleural cavity, tumor involvement of the chest wall and/or diaphragm and bulky tumor mass. However we think it is helpful in preventing unnecessary exploratory thoracotomy for some patients with lung cancer whom pre-thoracotomy video-thoracoscopy was carried out.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 1997

We reviewed 40 cases of primary mediastinal tumors which were operated on at Seoul Paik Hospital from September, 1987 to December, 1995. Of these, 18 were male and 22 were female. The patient ranged in age from 4 years to 68 years with a mean age of 34.1 years. The most common symptoms included chest pain(12.5%), cough(12.5%), dyspnea(7.5%). and palpable neck mass(7.5%), and symptoms were absent at the time of diagnosis in 37.5% of cases. Chest roentgenography and computed tomography(CT) were performed in all patients, and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) in 5 patients, and transthoracic needle aspiration (TTNA) performed In 22 patients. The sensitivity of TTNA was 72.7%(16 of 22 patients). The lesion was located 60% in the anterosuperior mediastinum, 35% in the posterior mediastinum, and 5% in the middle mediastinum. The primary tumors included thymic neoplasms(11 cases), germ cell tumors(7 cases), neurogenic tumors(10 cases) and a miscellaneous group. The malignant tumors(12.5%) were invasive thymoma(3 cases), spindle cell sarcoma(1 case), and non-Hodgkin's Iymphoma(1 case). A complete excision was done in all 35 benign tumors and 3 malignant tumors. There was no operative mortality, and postoperative complications occurred in 3 cases.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1036-1039
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• 1996

Pulmonary carcinosarcon!as are rare malignant tumors consisting of an admixture of epithelial and mas- enchymal elements of the type ordinarily seen in malignancies of adults. Compared with all pulmonary neoplasms it occurs with a frequency of 0.3% and has a strong association with smoking. Carcinosarcomas be divided into two clinicopathologic groups based on the locution of the lung: a solid parenchymal type and a central or endobronchial lesion Noninvasive diagnostic tests have a rather low yield in detecting carcinosarcoma. The most frequent metastatic sites are hilar and mediastinal Lymph nodes. Surgical resection is both diagnostic and the initial treatment. The prognosis is poor and average postoperative survival is 9 months. We report one case of pulmonary carcinosarcoma demonstrated by immunohlstochemical staining in a 61 year old male patient with a review of literatures.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.460-465
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• 2011

A 15-year-old, castrated male shih-tzu dog was referred to Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of Gyeongsang National University due to dyspnea, anorexia, depression of 1 week's duration. On thoracic radiography, triangular shaped soft tissue opacity mass presented in the left cranial lung lobe region. On computed tomography, there was a $3.8{\times}2.5$ cm mass in the left thoracic cavity, which was lobulated and adhered to ventral pleural surface. Histopathologically, the neoplastic cell population consisted of a lot of lymphocytes and a few of Hassal's corpuscles. The immunohistochemistry, lymphocytes were diffusely positive for CD3 and focal positive $CD79{\alpha}$. Based on gross, histologic, and immunohistochemical findings, the neoplasm was diagnosed a lymphocyte predominant thymoma.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.57 no.11
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• pp.500-504
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• 2014

Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE) is a rare, locally aggressive vascular tumor of intermediate malignancy with resemblance to Kaposi sarcoma. It occurs predominantly in pediatric age groups as a cutaneous lesion with focal infiltration into the adjacent soft tissue and bone. Although visceral involvement is very uncommon, several cases with bone, retroperitoneal, or mediastinal involvement have been described. KHE has been reported to occasionally occur in unusual sites such as the thymus, tonsils, larynx, paranasal sinuses, deltoid muscle, spleen, uterine cervix, thoracic spine, and even the breast. Multifocal KHE is an extremely rare entity with few reports available in the literature, none of which describes pulmonary involvement. Herein, we report a unique case of multifocal KHE in a 13-year-old boy presenting with a huge soft tissue mass in the upper extremity complicated by bilateral pulmonary nodules that developed into large, necrotic tumor masses.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.207-210
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• 2014

The peritoneum is the most frequent site of recurrence for gastric cancer after gastrectomy, followed by the liver and lymph nodes. In contrast, metastasis to the thymus is rare. Annual surveillance with computed tomography was performed on a 67-year-old man who previously underwent a distal gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection for gastric cancer at Tottori University. Five years after the initial operation, an anterior mediastinal tumor was detected by computed tomography. The patient underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery to remove the tumor. Histopathology revealed adenocarcinoma cells similar to those of the gastric cancer resected 5 years previously. Thymic metastasis was considered likely based on the location of the tumor. The recognition that gastric cancer can metastasize to unusual anatomic locations, such as the thymus, can facilitate an accurate, prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.734-737
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• 2000

Background: McKeown first described two autopsy cases of esophageal small cell carcinoma (SMC) in 1952; about 230 cases have since been reported in the literature. Small cell carcinoma has been reported to account for 0.4% to 7.6% of all esophageal malignancies. SMC of the esophagus as regarded as having a poor prognosis with frequent systemic dissemination. Choice of treatment remains controversial. Material and Method: From August 1987 to December 1998, a review of the records and histologic sections of 8 patients with primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus seen in 11 years was undertaken. Result: Small cell carcinoma of the esophagus constituted 1.5% of all esophageal cancers. The median age was 61.5 years(range from 42 to 71 years). Seven patients were male, tumor was mainly located in the middle and lower thirds(6 cases) of the esophagus. Pure SMC is 5 cases, and mixed SMC is 3 cases. Operative procedure were as follow: transthoracic esophagectomy with thoracic or cervical reconstructon in 7 patients, transhiated esophagectomy with cervical reconstruction in one. The operative death was none. Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 7 patients except one who had poor general condition. Recurrence was observed in 4 patients(mediastinal LN, abdominal LN, SCN, bone). The overall median survival was 15.9 months. Only one patient survived for more than 5 years. Conclusion: We considered that esophageal SMC should be regarded as a systemic disease, and multimodality treatment including chemotherapy should be used. Surgery may be offered in selected patients to manage local disease as part of a chemotherapy based treatment program.