Purpose: The primary and secondary aims were to investigate the prevalence of incidental mediastinal masses on low-dose chest CT examinations during health check-ups, and to review the radiological characteristics of prevascular mediastinal masses, respectively.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 38,861 participants (mean age: 57.1 years; range: 21-99 years; men: 51.3%; never-smokers: 57.4%) who underwent low-dose chest CT examinations between January 2011 and December 2016. All images with incidental mediastinal masses were reviewed, and prevascular mediastinal masses were assessed for qualitative and quantitative imaging characteristics by two radiologists. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed in clinical and CT features between some combinations of participants.

Results: Overall, 653 participants (1.68%, 653 of 38,861) had incidental mediastinal masses; 578 in prevascular mediastinum, including 93 intrathymic cysts and 24 thymic epithelial tumors. Presence of mediastinal mass was not significantly associated with sex (p = 0.089) and smoking history (p = 0.098) but with age (p < 0.001). Significant differences were found between intrathymic cysts and thymic epithelial tumors in terms of shapes (p = 0.049), contours (p = 0.018), and CT values (p = 0.012).

Conclusion: The prevalence of asymptomatic mediastinal masses on low-dose chest CT was 1.68%. CT values, shapes, and contours may effectively distinguish intrathymic cysts from thymic epithelial tumors.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11604-020-01015-2DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

mediastinal masses
24
incidental mediastinal
16
radiological characteristics
8
low-dose chest
8
chest examinations
8
prevascular mediastinal
8
masses
6
mediastinal
6
incidental
4
masses detected
4

Similar Publications

Otherwise, inoperable. The role of ECMO in thoracic surgery - focus on the mediastinum.

Port J Card Thorac Vasc Surg

January 2025

Thoracic surgeon, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy.

The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in surgery is expanding as the medical community started adopting it, with good results, for procedures with high risk of respiratory and hemodynamic instability. This technique provided the possibility to reduce the number of patients previously considered inoperable because of these limitations. Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are rare neoplastic mediastinal lesions, with a reported incidence of 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Point-of-care ultrasound may be used for identification of thoracic pathology, including mediastinal masses. In this case report, we describe the case of an otherwise healthy 17-year-old boy who presented with generalized pruritis. Point-of-care ultrasound was useful in identifying a complex cystic and solid mediastinal mass extending into the thoracic cavities as well as an associated pericardial effusion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cardiac involvement in cancer is increasingly important in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients. A thorough cardiovascular evaluation using multimodal imaging is crucial to assess any direct cardiac involvement from oncological disease progression and to determine the cardiovascular risk of patients undergoing oncological therapies. Early detection of cardiac dysfunction, particularly due to cardiotoxicity from chemotherapy or radiotherapy, is essential to establish the disease's overall prognostic impact.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In children and young adults, tumors in the chest and thoracic wall exhibit a wide variety of types, making it challenging to differentiate between benign and malignant cases before invasive histopathological examination.

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for discriminating malignant thoracic masses in children and young adults.

Material And Methods: This retrospective study included chest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in patients aged <30 years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mediastinal lymphangiomas are rare benign tumors arising from lymphatic system malformations, most commonly seen in pediatric populations. In adults, they are exceedingly rare and present diagnostic challenges due to nonspecific symptoms and imaging overlap with other mediastinal masses. Diagnosis is typically based on imaging, including CT and MRI, with histopathology confirming the diagnosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!