A case of primary mediastinal ependymoma.

A 50-year-old female complained of back pain. Computed tomography showed a well-defined spindle-shaped mass 3.4 x 1.0 cm in size in the left paravertebral posterior mediastinum at the Th 3-4 level. The tumor was completely resected via thoracoscopic surgery, which showed no invasion into the surrounding tissue. It consisted of a cyst with a tiny mural solid element. By means of histological and immunohistochemical examinations, we diagnosed the tumor as ependymoma, and the patient remains alive 59 months after resection. As far as we know, 8 reported cases with primary mediastinal ependymoma have been reported. They had the following specific characteristics: (1) All patients were adult females; (2) The tumors were usually located at the paravertebral upper mediastinum; (3) Most of the tumors consisted of cystic and solid elements; (4) The tumors usually made no invasion into the surrounding tissues, though 2 cases had lymph-node metastases.