CTICasesMediastinal Metastasis from Breast Cancer simulating Thymic Rebound
▶ Watch on YouTube — age-restricted, cannot embed here
Imaging findings
CT reveals extensive soft tissue anterior to the aorta in the mediastinum, with adjacent destruction of the upper sternum. MRI with in-phase and out-of-phase imaging shows no signal dropout within the mediastinal soft tissue, indicating a lack of fat.
Key takeaways
Chemical shift ratio imaging (in/out of phase MRI) can be a helpful technique to differentiate mediastinal soft tissue, as lack of signal dropout suggests a non-fatty mass, such as metastasis, rather than thymic rebound or hyperplasia. Local spread of breast cancer through the internal mammary chain can present as mediastinal soft tissue and sternal involvement.
AI-assisted summary — may contain errors. Verify against the source video. Learn more
More from this webinar
- Coronary Artery Aneurysms in Ulcerative ColitisVascular
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) with Chronic Respiratory FailureOther
- Right Ventricular Lead PerforationIatrogenic
- Aortic Annulus Rupture during TAVIIatrogenic
- Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor (Inflammatory Pseudotumor)Inflammatory
- Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD) isolated to Native LungNeoplastic
- Pleural Lymphoma with Post-Treatment CalcificationNeoplastic
- Catamenial Pneumothorax due to Pleural EndometriosisOther
See all cases from June 2, 2016 →