Smouldering onset of advanced mediastinal tumor in an adolescent boy: case report

Abstract

An adolescent boy came at our observation with bilateral flaccid paralysis at both legs, cough, fecal and urinary incontinence. First symptoms started 6 months before, were initially mild and rather aspecific. There was incomplete information available from former diagnostic imaging and histologic assessment. We describe and discuss the subsequent diagnostic flow driving to the final diagnosis of spindle cell mediastinal carcinoma, its clinical management and outcome. Hopefully, sharing our lesson learnt may rise awareness around this rare tumor in adolescent population, in order to better anticipate diagnosis and improve its outcome.