Discussion
Diagnosis With Brief Discussion
- Diagnosis
- Fibrosing Mediastinitis by mediastinoscopic Bx
- Radiologic Findings
- Initial chest PA shows mild superior mediastinal widening.
About two year follow up chest radiograph shows no change of superior mediastinal widening.
There is soft tissue mass in right paratracheal and precarinal area and SVC is not demonstrated on CT. The aortic nipple is prominent and left superior intercostal vein is dilated. On venogram, SVC and brachiocephalic vein are not visualized and collateral draining veins are noted.
- Brief Review
- Fibrosing mediastinitis (chronic sclerosing mediastinitis, granulomatous mediastinitis, or idiopathic mediastinal fibrosis ) is a rare condition characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis of mediastinal soft tissues. It can cause compression and sometimes obliteration of vessels, airways, and the esophagus and result in a variety of functional and radiologic manifestations and occasionally, death.
The exact pathogenesis of the mediastinal fibrosis is unclear, although tuberculosis, syphilis, histoplasmosis and blastomycosis have all been suggested as aetiological factors, as well as immune reactions, drugs, trauma and malignancy.
In 40% of patients the disease is discovered incidentally, but the rest have symptoms of compression of mediastinal structures the superior vena cava being the most common clinically, and it may mimic a malignant process. The disease is exceptionally rare in Europe, with most cases reported originating from the United States, where it is often associated with fungal infections, particularly histoplasmosis
Fibrosing mediastinitis typically manifests on CT scans as an infiltrative mass of soft-tissue attenuation obliterating normal mediastinal fat planes and encasing or invading adjacent structures. Fibrosing mediastinitis most commonly affects the middle mediastinal compartments, including both the paratracheal and subcarinal regions, and the hila.
- References
- Keywords
- Mediastinum, Non-infectious inflammation,