<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Few patients are fortunate enough to get detected in the early stages of tumors whether benignant or malignant. This chance, with multiple hidden ethical issues, has pitfalls for both doctors and patients. We are presenting two cases, a male and a female with diagnosis problems successfully managed even if they are not convinced about the necessity of the surgery. The male, aged 63 years, non-smoker, with occupational exposure for 41 years, oligosymptomatic, during a preoperative routine X-ray and thorax CT for a left hydrocele operated in June 2020, was identified an acidophilic tumor formation, located in the anterior mediastinum. Additional investigations revealed a left vocal cord paresis and the transthoracic needle biopsy raised suspicion of thymoma with glandular areas and clear cells, also confirmed by surgery, an N0 stage. In the second case, a 42 years female with a recent history of SARS-COV-2 viral infection, mild clinical form, while performing a CT scan to assess COVID status, discovered a tumor mass located in the anterior mediastinum. ENT examination establishes the diagnoses of subacute laryngitis, dysphonic syndrome under etiological observation, and chronic rhinitis. The excision of the mediastinal formation is performed with favorable postoperative evolution. Histopathological examination highlighted changes that argue the diagnosis of mature intrathymic teratoma. Apparently, there were fortunate cases with curative resection, but being oligosymptomatic also involved substantial efforts to convince the patient and the caregivers about the need for urgent surgery.</p>
</abstract>

Few patients are fortunate enough to get detected in the early stages of tumors whether benignant or malignant. This chance, with multiple hidden ethical issues, has pitfalls for both doctors and patients. We are presenting two cases, a male and a female with diagnosis problems successfully managed even if they are not convinced about the necessity of the surgery. The male, aged 63 years, non-smoker, with occupational exposure for 41 years, oligosymptomatic, during a preoperative routine X-ray and thorax CT for a left hydrocele operated in June 2020, was identified an acidophilic tumor formation, located in the anterior mediastinum. Additional investigations revealed a left vocal cord paresis and the transthoracic needle biopsy raised suspicion of thymoma with glandular areas and clear cells, also confirmed by surgery, an N0 stage. In the second case, a 42 years female with a recent history of SARS-COV-2 viral infection, mild clinical form, while performing a CT scan to assess COVID status, discovered a tumor mass located in the anterior mediastinum. ENT examination establishes the diagnoses of subacute laryngitis, dysphonic syndrome under etiological observation, and chronic rhinitis. The excision of the mediastinal formation is performed with favorable postoperative evolution. Histopathological examination highlighted changes that argue the diagnosis of mature intrathymic teratoma. Apparently, there were fortunate cases with curative resection, but being oligosymptomatic also involved substantial efforts to convince the patient and the caregivers about the need for urgent surgery.

Oligosymptomatic tumors – Traps for doctors and patients

Pneumologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Oligosymptomatic tumors \u2013 Traps for doctors and patients"}

Few patients are fortunate enough to get detected in the early stages of tumors whether benignant or malignant. This chance, with multiple hidden ethical...

Oligosymptomatic tumors – Traps for doctors and patients

Published Online: Sep 27, 2022

Page range: 74 - 80

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pneum-2022-0016

Keywords
thymoma, mature intratimic teratoma, oligosymptomatic

© 2021 Florin Mihălțan et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Oligosymptomatic tumors – Traps for doctors and patients

Published Online: Sep 27, 2022

Page range: 74 - 80

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pneum-2022-0016

Keywordsthymoma, mature intratimic teratoma, oligosymptomatic

© 2021 Florin Mihălțan et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
thymoma, mature intratimic teratoma, oligosymptomatic