BRONCHOGENIC CYSTS - CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL PRESENTATION AND TREATMENT

The aim of this study was to evaluate the preoperative and operative p resentations of one paediatric and 30 adult patients with bronchogenic cyst of the mediastinum (n=11) and lung (n=20). At initial presentati on, six patients were asymptomatic and 25 were symptomatic. The mean a ge of asymptomatic and symptomatic patients was 25 and 33 yrs, respect ively, Six patients presented with complications, including superior v ena cava syndrome, tracheal compression, pneumothorax, pleurisy and pn eumonia. Two patients who were asymptomatic when initially observed ev entually needed surgery because of the development of symptoms or enla rgement of the cyst size, In one patient, the cyst was not seen on the chest radiograph but appeared as a lobulated nodule of 2 cm diameter in a chest computerized tomography (CT) scan. Operative difficulties w ere encountered in 13 patients, all of whom were symptomatic preoperat ively. In conclusion, life-threatening complications occurred in these patients. Despite various diagnostic studies, definitive tissue diagn osis was established only by means of surgical excision. The frequency of operative difficulties in symptomatic cysts was higher than those of asymptomatic cysts. Surgery may be considered as the treatment of c hoice even when the cyst is asymptomatic, since complications are not uncommon.