Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery of Mediastinal Cysts: Report of 13 Cases

Endoscopic resection in the treatment of intramural esophageal bronchogenic cysts: A retrospective analysis of 17 cases

BACKGROUND

Intramural esophageal bronchogenic cysts (EBCs) are rare congenital malformations. Differences in reports on the clinical features of intramural EBCs and some controversies about the treatment strategy for intramural EBCs exist.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the clinical characteristics of intramural EBCs and evaluate the safety and efficacy of endoscopic resection.

METHODS

The clinical and endoscopic features, endoscopic resection treatment, postoperative adverse events, and follow-up results of 17 patients with intramural EBCs were retrospectively studied.

RESULTS

Intramural EBCs exhibited male predominance with a male/female ratio of 58.8% (10/7) and were predominantly found in the distal esophagus. Approximately 94.1% of patients presented with gastrointestinal symptoms. All lesions were protruding masses covered by intact mucosal epithelium. The morphologies of intramural EBCs were diverse under white light endoscopy. On endoscopic ultrasonography, intramural EBCs presented as homogeneous or inhomogeneous hypoechoic or anechoic lesions. Eleven lesions originated from the muscularis propria, which underwent submucosal tunnel endoscopic resection (STER), and six lesions were from the submucosa, which underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). Approximately 88.2% of patients underwent complete endoscopic resection. No serious pneumothorax, bleeding, pleural effusion, esophagotracheal fistula, or other adverse events occurred in all patients after endoscopic resection, and no cyst recurrence, metastasis, or esophageal scar stenosis was observed during the follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS

Intramural EBCs can be treated by digestive endoscopic surgery. STER and ESD are safe, effective, and minimally invasive resection methods.

Incidental Mediastinal Thyroid Cancer

Cystic mediastinal masses are most commonly benign congenital lesions. Rarely, a cystic mediastinal mass will prove to be malignant. The patient, a 50-year-old woman who initially presented with uveitis, was incidentally found to have a right paratracheal opacity on chest X-ray (CXR). Chest computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a 5cm right paratracheal hypodense cystic mass. The patient underwent a right robotic-assisted thoracoscopic resection of the mediastinal mass. Final pathology revealed a 4.5cm mass consistent with metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma (similar histology in 2 excised lymph nodes). The patient subsequently had a total thyroidectomy with central and right neck dissections.

Complete excision of esophageal bronchogenic cyst by endoscopic submucosal tunnel dissection: a case presentation

Background

Intramural esophageal bronchogenic cyst is very rare. Surgical removal of the cysts is advised even the patients are asymptomatic, since the cyst can lead to complications, and there is a risk of malignant transformation. Thoracotomy or thoracoscopy is the most commonly used approach for complete excision of the cysts. To our knowledge, this is the first report to excise intramural esophageal bronchogenic cyst completely by endoscopic submucosal tunnel dissection (ESTD).

Case presentation

A 40-year-old male was referred to our hospital due to the detection of a submucosal tumor at the distal esophagus. The tumor was found during gastroendoscopy in a general health check-up. The patient had no symptoms. A benign esophageal tumor was confirmed by endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and computed tomography (CT). On the basis of these results, ESTD was performed. During the procedure, a cystic mass was observed between the mucosa and the muscular layers of the esophagus, and a hybrid knife was used for dissection. Histopathological examination showed the cyst wall was lined by pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium, consistent with a bronchogenic cyst. The esophagography using meglumine diatrizoate showed no leakage on the seventh day after ESTD. The patient remained asymptomatic and had a regular diet during the follow-up period.

Discussion and conclusions

We successfully utilized ESTD for complete removal of esophageal bronchogenic cysts originating from the muscularis propria. The approach appeared safe, providing a minimally invasive treatment option for patients.

Comparison of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and thoracotomy in the treatment of mediastinal cysts

Background

This study aims to compare the results of videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery and thoracotomy in the treatment of mediastinal cystic lesions.

Methods

Sixty patients (28 males, 32 females; mean age 36.1±19.4 years; range, 2 days to 82 years) who were performed thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for mediastinal cyst treatment in our clinic between January 1997 and December 2016 were retrospectively evaluated. Chest radiography and thorax computed tomography were used in all participants for diagnosis. Magnetic resonance imaging was used additionally in 23 participants.

Results

Of the patients, mediastinal cysts were localized in anteriorsuperior mediastinum in 19 (31.7%), middle mediastinum in 19 (31.7%) and posterior mediastinum in 22 (36.6%). Histopathologically, 17 bronchogenic cysts, 15 hydatid cysts, 10 pericardial cysts, seven cystic teratomas, four enteric cysts, four thymic cysts, two lymphangiomas and one thoracic duct cyst were identified. While thoracotomy was performed in 34 patients (56.7%), video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was performed in 26 patients (43.3%). Mean duration of thoracotomies and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgeries was 123.6±24.7 minutes and 87.4±17.6 minutes, respectively (p<0.01). Mean duration of hospital stay was 8.2±4.3 days after thoracotomy and 4.3±1.2 days after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (p<0.01). While postoperative complications developed in four patients (two pneumothoraxes, one pleural effusion, one chylothorax), no mortality was observed in any of them.

Conclusion

Main treatment method for mediastinal cysts is surgery. Thoracoscopic approach significantly reduces patient's duration of surgical procedure and postoperative duration of hospital stay. We believe that minimally invasive approaches will be administered more frequently compared to open surgeries for mediastinal cysts in the near future.

Minimally invasive, multi-disciplinary approach for surgical management of a mediastinal congenital bronchogenic cyst in a 6-month-old infant

We present a case of prenatal diagnosis of a mediastinal cyst by ultrasound, confirmed during infancy through computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A 6-month-old male infant was admitted to the hospital. A mid-mediastinal cyst was detected through a province-wide fetal ultrasonography screening program. During the infancy stage, the CT scan and the MRI confirmed the finding of a mediastinal cyst. Based on the findings on prenatal ultrasonography and postnatal imaging studies (CT, MRI), a benign mediastinal cyst was suspected. The cyst was below the tracheal carina, and the patient developed symptoms of respiratory distress. Owing to the enlargement trend of the cyst, the respiratory distress it has caused, and the anxiety it caused to the patient's family, a multi-disciplinary conference reached the consensus that surgical resection is the treatment of choice and a carina-approach mediastinal lesion resection via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was performed. The cyst was removed successfully. Although this report is of a single case and follow-up duration is not long enough, we nevertheless make the first move to improve the pattern to a feasible, reliable, and efficient one, which could be used to treat similar patients.