mediastinal masses

Coughing can also be triggered by benign or malignant lung tumors or mediastinal masses.

Patients with large mediastinal masses are at risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest during general anesthesia or heavy sedation.

Mediastinal masses by location:

Pokorny WJ, Sherman JO: Mediastinal masses in infants and children.

The initial evaluation of the patient should include a chest radiograph to look for mediastinal masses and associated findings, such as pleural effusion, lobar collapse, or cardiomegaly.

Azizkhan RG, Dudgeon DL, Buck JR, et al.: Life-threatening airway obstruction as a complication to the management of mediastinal masses in children.

The most common mediastinal masses are neurogenic tumors (20% of mediastinal tumors), usually found in the posterior mediastinum, followed by thymoma (15-20%) located in the anterior mediastinum.

Shamberger RC, Holzman RS, Griscom NT, et al.: Prospective evaluation by computed tomography and pulmonary function tests of children with mediastinal masses.

Mediastinal radiation is not necessary for patients with mediastinal masses, except in the emergency treatment of symptomatic superior vena caval obstruction or airway obstruction, where low-dose radiation is usually employed.

Lymphoblastic lymphoma is commonly associated with large mediastinal masses and has a high predilection for disseminating to bone marrow and the central nervous system (CNS), much like acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).