Mediastinal Hemangioma with Literature Review;Report of a Case

A 58-year-old woman visited a local physician for evaluation of collagen disease and screening computed tomography (CT) showed a posterior mediastinal tumor. After referral to our hospital, CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a mass, approximately 2 cm in diameter, located on the right of the 1st thoracic vertebra. Since a neurogenic tumor was suspected, thoracoscopic excision was performed. Surgical findings revealed a tumor between the 1st and 2nd ribs in the close vicinity of the right brachiocephalic vein. We severed blood vessels flowing into the tumor and removed it. The tumor, 25 mm in maximal diameter, was diagnosed as hemangioma by histological examinations. The prevalence of a hemangioma is less than 0.5% of all mediastinal tumors. Since it lacks specific imaging findings, its preoperative diagnosis is quite difficult to establish. Although a hemangioma in the mediastinum is quite rare, it should be included in the differential diagnoses of mediastinal tumors.