Surgical management of mediastinal mature cystic teratoma of the elderly remaining asymptomatic.

BACKGROUND: Mediastinal teratoma is an uncommon disease, nevertheless they represent the most common mediastinal germ cell tumors. It may grow silently for several years and remain undiagnosed until the occurrence of a complication.

AIM: The main aim of this article is to illustrate the silent evolution of an anterior mediastinal teratoma for over 70 years without presenting any notable complications.

CASE PRESENTATION: We present the case of a 70-year-old female, treated for hypertension referred to our department for managing a voluminous mediastinal mass, discovered fortuitously by a general practitioner in a chest X-ray. The anamnesis didn't relate any chest pain, cough, dyspnea nor hemoptysis. The clinical examination, in particular pleuropulmonary, was unremarkable. The workup (Chest X-Ray and CT scan) demonstrated a voluminous pleural mass at the expense of the right mediastinal pleura, rounded in shape, with calcified wall and fluid content. Blood tests did not demonstrate eosinophilia, and hydatid IgG serology was negative. serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) levels were found to be normal. The patient subsequently underwent a right posterolateral thoracotomy with resection of the lesion. The mass was dissected very carefully and then resected in toto. The macroscopic and microscopic histological examination demonstrated a mature cystic teratoma. Surgical resection was an adequate treatment and the prognosis was excellent for the patient.

CONCLUSION: Cystic mature teratomas are rare thoracic tumors, often recognized by radiological examination. This article relates the silent evolution that a teratoma could have, and the late appearance of symptoms that it could have.