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Spontaneous intrapleural rupture of mediastinal teratoma in child


Ines Trabelsi
Marwa Zarrad
Manel Ben Romdhane
Sadok Boudaya
Fatma Khalsi
Khedija Boussetta

Abstract

Introduction: Mediastinal teratomas are rare in children. Nevertheless, they represent the most frequent mediastinal germ cell tumor. Most often, they are discovered incidentally in older children or adolescents on chest X-ray. There are other signs of discovery but less frequent: chest pain, hemoptysis and signs of mediastinal compression. Rupture into pleural space, pericardium or tracheobronchial tree are exceptional.


Case presentation: We report the case of 7-years old girl admitted for chest pain. The chest x-ray showed a mediastinal mass with calcifications and pleural effusion. Chest CT scan revealed a well limited heterogeneous anterior mediastinal mass with calcifications and a left pleural effusion. She underwent a median sternotomy and the tumor was completely excised. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of mature teratoma.


Conclusion: Intrapleural rupture is a rare complication of mature teratoma. Calcifications on chest imaging in afebrile children with pleural effusion should be suspected of mediastinal teratoma.


Keyswords: Teratoma; tumor; mediastinum; child; rupture.


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eISSN: 1729-0503
print ISSN: 1680-6905