Primary Mediastinal Germ Cell Tumor in a Middle-Aged Woman: Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

Although primary mediastinal germ cell tumors are found much more frequently among young males than among other people, we recently encountered a middle-aged woman with the disease. The patient was a 59-year-old woman who complained mainly of anterior chest pain. Chest CT scans revealed a nonhomogeneous mass measuring 7 x 7 cm in the anterior mediastinal area, accompanied by signs suggestive of mediastinal invasion of the tumor. Reduction surgery was performed. The pathologic diagnosis was mediastinal dysgerminoma. The patient received postoperative radiochemotherapy but died due to liver metastasis 11 months after surgery.