Fibrosing mediastinitis as a cause of right claudication

Updates Surg. 2012 Mar;64(1):63-7. doi: 10.1007/s13304-011-0074-7. Epub 2011 May 12.

Abstract

Fibrosing mediastinitis is a rare benign disorder caused by proliferation of acellular collagen and dense paucicellular fibrous tissue within the mediastinum. Its precise cause, pathogenesis and links to infectious (such as histoplasmosis or tuberculosis) and non-infectious (such as sclerosing cholangitis) diseases remain speculative. Affected patients present signs and symptoms related to obstruction of mediastinal hollow organs, such as large vessels, esophagus and airways. The present study reports the first case described in medical literature of medullar compression by a mediastinal mass penetrated into the spinal canal through neural foramens and causing claudication.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Fibrosis
  • Humans
  • Intermittent Claudication / etiology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Mediastinitis / complications*
  • Mediastinitis / surgery*
  • Middle Aged
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Spinal Cord Compression / complications*
  • Spinal Cord Compression / diagnosis
  • Spinal Cord Compression / surgery*
  • Steroids / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Steroids