The thymic cysts are uncommon and they consist of 1-2% of all mediastinal masses. The thymic cysts may be congenital or acquired.Our patient was male and 72 years old. He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) history for the last four years. Chest X-ray revealed mediastinal widening. A mediastinal massof 6x2 cm in dimension was detected by computed tomography. The lesion was hypodense, well-defined cystic in nature. The patient was admitted to our surgical clinic. Total excision was performed via median sternotomy. The postoperative period was uneventfull. The patient was discharged on the 4 th postoperative day. The pathologic examination revealed thymic cyst. The thymic cysts are rare. They are usually asymptomatic, therefore the diagnosis may be delayed until older age and the they are usually detected incidentally. The curative therapy is total excision because the diferantiation of other benign from malignant mediastinal masses was difficult and these benign lesions have low malignant potential.
Key Words: Thymic Cyst; Anterior Mediastinum, Median Sternotomy
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