Surgical management of mediastinal hemangioma: a report of 18 cases / 中华胸心血管外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize our experience in surgical intervention of patients with mediastinal hemangioma.Methods From January 1994 to August 2017,18 patients underwent surgical treatment were diagnosed with mediastinal hemangioma in our department.There were 9 females and 9 males,with the average age of(50.9 ± 14.0) years.Seven patients were seen with signs and symptoms related to the tumor,and the other 11 patients had no symptom.Three cases were located in the anterior mediastinum,1 case in the middle mediastinum and 14 cases in the posterior mediastinum.All of the cases experienced chest computed tomography(unenhanced or contrast-enhanced CT scan).Most mediastinal hemangiomas manifested as well-marginated masses at CT.Seven hemangiomas showed heterogeneous enhancement at contrast-enhanced CT.Calcifications were demonstrated in 2 patients.Preoperative diagnosis was not confirmed in all patients.Two cases were suspected to be hemangioma preoperatively,other cases were suspected to be thymoma,neurofibroma or malignancy.Eight cases were treated by video-assisted thoracic surgery approach,3 of those converted to thoracotomy due to high risk of hemorrhage.Ten cases experienced traditional thoracotomy.Results Seventeen patients had total excision,but one experienced biopsy because of hemorrhage.There were no operative death and major complications.The average operation time was(105.0 ± 49.6) minutes,and the average blood loss was(111.7 ± 138.9) ml.The postoperative hospital stay was (4.7 ± 3.5) days on average.Follow-up time ranged from 1 to 18 months(median,9.6 months).No recurrence was found in the patients with total excision at the time of follow-up.The patient undergoing biopsy showed no progression of the disease for 12 months.Conclusion Mediastinal hemangiomas were rare tumors,without relatively specific clinical manifestation.Calcification and phleboliths on CT scan were helpful in suggesting the vascular nature of the mass.Preoperative diagnosis of mediastinal hemangioma was usually very difficult.Mediastinal hemangiomas were mainly treated by surgical approach and had good prognosis.