A Case of Thymic Mature Teratoma with Massive Pleural Effusion / 소아알레르기및호흡기학회지

ABSTRACT

Mediastinal tumors are uncommon in the pediatric age group and teratoma comprises 5 percent of mediastinal lesions developing in the anterior mediastinum. It is characterized by staying asymptomatically till adulthood and the most common symptoms of mediastinal teratoma are chest pains, dyspnea, and coughs due to the compression of adjacent airways. Untreated benign teratoma can cause complications such as atelectasis of the lung, adjacent tissue compression, infection and rupture of mass. The diagnosis can be made by chest radiography and chest CT, and the treatment of choice is surgical. We report a 2 year, 10 months male patient who presented with coughs, respiratory difficulty caused by pleural effusion due to rupture, and perforation of the mass. The diagnosis was made by chest radiography and chest CT and he underwent surgical resection successfully.