Primary mediastinal myelolipoma: a case report

Abstract

Myelolipomas are rare, benign tumors, usually occurring in the adrenal cortex and in various extraadrenal locations. They are composed of mature fat cells and foci of normal hematopoietic elements. Primary mediastinal myelolipomas are very rare, with only a few cases reported in the literature. We discuss a case of myelolipoma in the anterior mediastinum, which surprisingly turned out to be adherent to the superior vena cava during surgical resection. Radiologic findings of myelolipomas on CT examination and differential diagnoses of fatty thoracic masses are discussed.