Pediatric Surgery International

, Volume 12, Issue 8, pp 613–617 | Cite as

Recurrent mediastinal mass in a child with Hodgkin's disease following successful therapy: a diagnostic challenge

  • A. Feldges
  • H. P. Wagner
  • B. Bubeck
  • B. Kehrer
  • G. Ries
  • U. Schmid
  • P. Waibel
Case Report
Accepted:

Abstract

The case of an 11-year-old girl with mediastinal stage III B-E Hodgkin's disease is described. She achieved complete remission with combined chemoradiotherapy according to the Swiss Pediatric Oncology Group-HD Protocol 1985. Six months after all therapy was stopped, a slowly growing retrosternal mass was detected. Computed tomography (CT) and gallium-67 single-photon emission CT (SPECT) could not elucidate the true origin of the tumor, nor did ultrasound-guided transthoracic fine-needle puncture. Open biopsy with histologic examination of the lesion has successfully identified the mass as thymic hyperplasia, a rebound immunologic reaction after chemoradiotherapy that mimicked tumor regrowth.

Key words

Hodgkin's disease Recurrent mediastinal mass Gallium-67 SPECT Thymic rebound Chemoradiotherapy 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1997

Authors and Affiliations

  • A. Feldges
    • 1
  • H. P. Wagner
    • 2
  • B. Bubeck
    • 3
  • B. Kehrer
    • 1
  • G. Ries
    • 4
  • U. Schmid
    • 5
  • P. Waibel
    • 1
  1. 1.Ostschweizerisches KinderspitalSwitzerland
  2. 2.The Swiss Institute for Applied Cancer ResearchBernSwitzerland
  3. 3.Nuklearmedizinisches InstitutKantonsspitalSwitzerland
  4. 4.Klinik für RadioonkologieKantonsspitalSwitzerland
  5. 5.Pathologisches InstitutKantonsspitalSwitzerland

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