Abstract

We report a case of a huge mass located at the anterior – superior mediastinum in a 2 – year – old black girl. The patient had no symptoms or any other associated disease. Preoperative examination was performed using chest CT scan and chest MRI, and sugested the diagnosis of thymolipoma before surgery. This tumor was successfully resected by an anterior bilateral thoracotomy with sternotomy (Clamshell incision). The diagnosis was confirmed histologically. Thymolipoma is a rare benign mediastinal tumor that can be presented as very large tumor in an asymptomatic patient, or it can be associated with myasthenia gravis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, red cell aplasia, hypogammaglobulinemia and lichen planus, especially in adults.

Key words: thymolipoma; thymus neoplasms; lipoma; mediastinal neoplasms; thoracotomy; diagnostic; surgery.