IMAGES IN THORAX
Multiple thoracic osteophytes presenting as mediastinal mass
1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK
2 Department of Radiology, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr A Sykes
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, White City, London W120HS, UK; annysykes@doctors.org.uk
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A 59-year-old builder presented to the accident and emergency department with a 4-week history of intermittent central chest pain. He was a lifelong non-smoker, had no asbestos or tuberculosis exposures, and had no cardiac risk factors. The patient’s pain settled with simple analgesia. Chest x ray showed a widening of the right paratracheal stripe consistent with right paratracheal lymphadenopathy (fig 1
). Reassuringly, the computed tomography scan revealed prominent thoracic vertebral osteophytes (figs 2 and 3).
Figure 1 Chest x ray showing widening of the right paratracheal stripe consistent with right paratracheal lymphadenopathy.
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Figure 2 Computed tomography scan showing prominent thoracic vertebral osteophytes.
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Figure 3 A case of osteophytes resembling paratracheal lymphadenopathy.
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Cervical osteophytes have been reported to be associated with respiratory compromise, airway obstruction and dysphagia. Extra spinal manifestations of thoracic osteophytes have been reported infrequently, but single large osteophytes have been associated with bronchial obstruction and recurrent infection.
This case demonstrates that multiple
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