Hodgkin's disease of the thymus: a rare mediastinal cystic mass.

We report a 14-year-old patient referred to us because of chest pain. A huge upper anterior mediastinal mass with several cystic spaces within it was found and resected. Pathologic diagnosis was nodular sclerosis Hodgkin's disease of the thymus. Radiotherapy was started after accurate surgical staging, and the patient remains free of disease 24 months later. Cavitation of the gland in Hodgkin's disease of the thymus should be taken into consideration when dealing with upper anterior mediastinal cystic masses in children. Surgery is probably unavoidable in this group of patients and, interestingly, can account in part for the relatively good prognosis in this localized form of the disease.