BRANT: Chapter 11 - MEDIASTINUM AND HILA Flashcards
Name the sign used when the border of a superior mediastinal mass becomes indistinct as it extends beyond the level of the clavicles.
Cervicothoracic sign or thoracic inlet sign
This sign helps localize thoracic inlet masses if located anteriorly vs posteriorly/paravertebrally (since lung apex extends higher posteriorly than anteriorly)
Diagnosis
Mediastinal teratoma
19/F with chest pain and nonproductive cough
Castleman disease or angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia
Diagnosis
Azygos Continuation of the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC)
Diagnosis
Bronchogenic cyst
Majority of bronchogenic cysts (80% to 90%) arise within the mediastinum in the vicinity of the tracheal carina
Diagnosis
Pericardial cyst
Enlarged Epipericardial Fat Pad
Diagnosis
Hiatal hernia
Diagnosis
Neurenteric cyst
When an enteric cyst has a persistent communication with the spinal canal (canal of Kovalevsky) and is associated with congenital defects of the thoracic spine (anterior spina bifida, hemivertebrae, or butterfly vertebrae), it is termed a neurenteric cyst
Primary cross-sectional modality used to evaluate mediastinal masses.
Contrast-enhanced multidetector row CT (MDCT)
MR is most useful for evaluation of mediastinal masses in the following circumstances, except:
a. Asessing lesions in patients who cannot receive iodinated contrast
b. Likely vascular lesions
c. Confirming the cystic nature of lesions that have high attenuation due to proteinacious contents
d. Distinguishing thymic hyperplasia from thymic neoplasms
e. All of the above justify the use of MRI
e. All of the above justify the use of MRI
The following are indications to do PET, except:
a. Confirm increased metabolic activity in suspected malignancy
b. Assess response of mediastinal tumors to therapy, particularly lymphoma
c. Distinguish residual or recurrent tumor from fibrosis
d. All of above are indications to do PET
d. All of the above are indications to PET
T/F: In contrast to other masses in the thoracic inlet, a tortuous vessel is usually associated with tracheal deviation toward the side of the mass, whereas most goiters and other inlet masses displace the trachea contralaterally.
True
Most common thoracic inlet mass
Tortuous vascular structures
Cystic or cavernous tumors that are comprised of dilated lymphatic channels and are most commonly discovered in infancy and is often associated with chromosomal abnormalities, including Turner syndrome, trisomies 13, 18, and 21
Cystic hygroma
(Lymphangioma)
CT findings which suggest that the mediastinal mass is likely part of an ongoing thyroid pathology are the following, except:
a. Coarse calcifications
b. Cystic or necrotic areas
c. Baseline high CT attenuation
d. Intense enhancement (>25 HU) but rapid washout
d. Intense enhancement (>25 HU) but rapid washout
Intense enhancement (>25 H) as a result of the hypervascularity of most thyroid masses and prolonged enhancement (resulting from active uptake of iodine from contrast media) following intravenous contrast administration
Second most common primary mediastinal neoplasms in adults after lymphoma
Thymomas (Thymic Epithelial Neoplasms)
The average age at diagnosis of thymoma is
45 to 50
Of patients with myasthenia gravis, ____ have a thymoma, while a larger percentage of patients with thymoma ( ____ ) have or will develop myasthenia.
10% to 15%
30% to 50%
Modality that is best for characterizing thymomas and detecting local invasion preoperatively
CT
T/F: Drop metastases to dependent portions of the pleural space are a recognized route of spread of thymoma that has invaded the pleura.
True
60-year-old male with hypercalcemia. Diagnosis
Parathyroid adenoma
Congenital unilocular thymic cysts are rare lesions that represent remnants of the ____ and contain thin or gelatinous fluid.
Thymopharyngeal duct
It is defined as enlargement of a thymus that is normal on gross and histologic examination. This rare entity occurs primarily in children as a rebound effect in response to an antecedent stress, discontinuation of chemotherapy, or treatment of hypercortisolism.
Thymic hyperplasia
T/F: Like most cases of true thymic hyperplasia, lymphoid hyperplasia does produce thymic enlargement.
False
In contrast to most cases of true thymic hyperplasia, lymphoid hyperplasia does NOT produce thymic enlargement.
Most patients with thymic hyperplasia have normal sized or diffusely enlarged glands on CT
Chemical shift MR with in- and out-of-phase sequences can distinguish hyperplasia, which shows signal decrease on out-of-phase chemical shift imaging due to the presence of microscopic fat within hyperplastic tissue, from thymic neoplasms that do not decrease in signal intensity.
Which MR technique can distinguish thymic hyperplasia from thymic neoplasm?
Chemical shift MR
55-year-old woman, s/p chemotherapy for left breast cancer. Diagnosis
Thymic hyperplasia
It is the most common primary mediastinal neoplasm in adults.
Lymphoma
Of the various subtypes of NHL that present with mediastinal masses, ____ and ____ are the most common
Lymphoblastic lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Which of the following is true about lympoma?
a. Lymphoma involving a single mediastinal or hilar nodal group is much more common in Hodgkin disease than in NHL.
b. NHL most commonly involves middle mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes
c. Juxtaphrenic and posterior mediastinal nodal involvement is uncommon but is seen almost exclusively in Hodgkin disease
d. NHL involves the thorax in approximately 85% of patients at presentation.
b. NHL most commonly involves middle mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes
a. NHL > HD
b. True
c. NHL
d. 40%
T/F: Calcification in untreated lymphoma is extremely uncommon, and its presence within an anterior mediastinal mass should suggest another diagnosis.
True
T/F: On MR, untreated lymphoma appears as a mass of uniform low signal intensity on T1WIs and uniform high signal intensity or intermixed areas of low and high signal intensity on T2WIs. The areas of low signal intensity on T2WIs of untreated patients may be a result of foci of fibrotic tissue in nodular sclerosing Hodgkin disease.
True
Patients with successfully treated mediastinal Hodgkin disease often have residual soft tissue density in the affected mediastinal compartments, with dystrophic calcification commonly seen within treated nodes
In general, the appearance of high signal intensity regions on T2WIs more than 6 months after treatment should suggest recurrence.