-Case Reports-

Mediastinal Cystic Hemangioma Presenting as Bilateral Bloody Pleural Effusion: A Case Report

Hirotoshi Kubokura¹, Junichi Okamoto¹, Hideko Hoshina¹, Hideaki Ishii², Kiyoshi Koizumi³ and Kazuo Shimizu³

¹Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital
²Department of Pathology, Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital
³Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School

A 58-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of dyspnea, dysphagia, and back pain. A chest roentgenogram showed bilateral pleural effusion. Bloody fluid was aspirated via thoracocentesis, but no malignancy was detected on cytological examination. Computed tomography revealed a hypodense circular mass approximately 8 cm in diameter with well-defined margins in the posterior mediastinum. Furthermore, T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging showed the lesion to be a hyperintense mass. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was performed, and the tumor was diagnosed as a mediastinal cystic hemangioma. The bilateral bloody pleural effusion was attributed to the cystic tumor.

J Nippon Med Sch 2012; 79: 381-384

Keywords
mediastinal tumor, hemangioma, cystic hemangioma, bloody pleural effusion

Correspondence to
Hirotoshi Kubokura, MD, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital, 1-396 Kosugi-cho, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-8533, Japan
kubokura@nms.ac.jp

Received, October 30, 2011
Accepted, February 10, 2012