CT findings of Askin tumor of chest wall / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze CT manifestations of chest wall Askin tumor and to illustrate its CT diagnostic and differentially diagnostic key points.Methods Eleven cases of chest wall Askin tumors were pathologically confirmed in our hospital between May 2006 and November 2014.Of them,10 cases were children and adolescents,and 9 cases had chest pain as the first symptom.All patients received plain CT scan,while 7 cases received contrast enhanced scan.CT signs of this group were retrospectively analyzed,including the location,quantity,shape,size,density,adjacent tissue invasion and distant metastasis of the tumors.Results CT examination showed a single oval mass on the chest wall in all 11 cases.The tumor was located completely within the thoracic cavity in 10 cases,while a tumor's main part was within thoracic cavity.Nine tumors had long diameters of more than 9 cm.All the tumors were heterogeneous without calcification,wherein 10 cases showed necrosis and cystic degeneration.On contrast enhanced scan,7 cases showed heterogeneously mild to moderate enhancement.All tumors invaded adjacent tissues,including 7 cases of bone damage of a single rib,and 7 cases of pleural involvement,wherein 6 cases had pleural effusion.No remote metastases were found in this group.Conclusions CT manifestations of Askin tumors of chest wall have some characteristics,and familiarity with these manifestations is conducive to diagnosis and differential diagnosis of this disease.