Primary mediastinal giant cell tumor

Abstract

Giant cell tumor of soft tissue is a rare tumor first described by Salm and Sissons in 1972 as being a distinct entity.1 Histologically, it is composed of multinucleated giant cells dispersed among mononuclear cells, and is indistinguishable from its bone equivalent.2 The majority of these tumors have been reported to occur in the lower extremity.2,3 We describe a case of giant cell tumor of soft tissue within the posterior mediastinum. The only other report of a primary mediastinal giant cell tumor of soft tissue in the English literature was published by Fu et al. in 2002, in which they described two patients with posterior mediastinal masses.4