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Thoracoscopic resection of a thoracic duct cyst that developed during follow-up for a thymic cyst

General Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery volume 59, pages 133–136 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

A 29-year-old man had been diagnosed with an anterior mediastinal cyst 6 years earlier and was undergoing follow-up. At a follow-up visit, a newly developed cystic lesion was found in the middle mediastinum; therefore, the anterior mediastinal cyst and the middle mediastinal cyst were resected by thoracoscopic surgery. It was observed that the middle mediastinal cyst originated from the thoracic duct, and the thoracic duct was clipped. Pathologically, the diagnosis was a thymic cyst of the anterior mediastinum and a thoracic duct cyst of the middle mediastinum. The patient developed chylothorax after surgery, and a second thoracoscopic operation was performed. It revealed that part of the clipping of the caudal thoracic duct was incomplete, and leakage of chyle was observed. Hence, the clipping was performed again. The course after the second surgery was good. Thoracic duct cysts are rare even among mediastinal cysts and thus require caution due to their tendency to expand.

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Affiliations

  1. Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Tottori University Hospital, 36-1 Nishi-Cho, Yonago Tottori, 683-8504, Japan

    Yuji Taniguchi, Ken Miwa, Yoshin Adachi, Shinji Fujioka, Tomohiro Haruki & Hiroshige Nakamura

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  1. Yuji Taniguchi
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  2. Ken Miwa
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  3. Yoshin Adachi
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  4. Shinji Fujioka
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  5. Tomohiro Haruki
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  6. Hiroshige Nakamura
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Correspondence to Yuji Taniguchi.

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Taniguchi, Y., Miwa, K., Adachi, Y. et al. Thoracoscopic resection of a thoracic duct cyst that developed during follow-up for a thymic cyst. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 59, 133–136 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-010-0615-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-010-0615-x

Key words

  • Thoracic duct cyst
  • Mediastinum
  • Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery