Notwithstanding its hardly ominous appearance as a mediastinal opaque mass with precise contours, the bronchogenic cyst has a significant potential for complications. We report a case of severe complication in a 28-year-old male presenting with epigastric pain irradiating to the back and at chest X-ray disclosing a well delimited mass in the posterior-inferior right side of the mediastinum. On the fifth day after onset of the symptoms, the patient developed sepsis resulting from mediastinitis and left pleural empyema. The patient was submitted to a left thoracotomy for lung decortication and mediastinal drainage and, after one week interval at a second stage, to a right thoracotomy for resection of the infected mediastinal cyst. In view of the inherent risk of omplications, mediastinal cyst resection is strongly recommended, even in cases of asymptomatic presentation.
Bronchogenic cyst; Mediastinitis; Empyema pleural
