Ewing's sarcoma presenting as a posterior mediastinal mass: a lesson learned.

Thoracic vertebral body hemicorpectomy and chest wall resection was performed in a 17-year-old male patient with a posterior mediastinal tumor thought to be neurogenic in origin. No preoperative tissue diagnostic endeavor was made. Final pathologic diagnosis showed this tumor to be Ewing's sarcoma. This communication alerts the thoracic surgeon to the need for definitive diagnosis of posterior mediastinal masses with vertebral body involvement, particularly in children. Induction chemotherapy is the accepted standard of management of these sarcomas.