Silent Sinistrous Asymptomatic Anterior Mediastinal Mass Diagnosed With EBUS-TBNA

Abstract

The most common cause of asymptomatic anterior mediastinal mass in young patient is thymoma. We present an unusual case of asymptomatic anterior mediastinal mass in a young male who was incidentally discovered to have aggressive precursor T-cell adult lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-ALL). Routine bronchoscopy and transthoracic needle aspiration were noncontributory, and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) provided the adequate amount of tissue for histopathology and immunohistochemistry, thus establishing the diagnosis of T-ALL. Our case highlights T-cell lymphoma as a cause of silent anterior mediastinal mass and the potential role of EBUS-TBNA as safe and relatively less invasive modality to obtain tissue for pathological diagnosis and saved the patient from potential thoracotomy/mediastinoscopy.

Keywords

• Anterior mediastinal mass
• endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration
• T-cell adult lymphoblastic lymphoma