Liposarcoma of the mediastinum. Case report and review of the literature.

A case of liposarcoma of the mediastinum in reported and a review of the literature is given. To our knowledge 53 cases have been described in the literature. The most common symptoms are dyspnea, chest-pain, a cough and loss of weight. There is no relation between operability, the duration of clinical symptoms and the size of the tumor. The final diagnosis was made by histological examination in all cases. A clinical classification of the tumor is not possible, because there are no characteristic clinical findings. The prognosis in general depends on the histological type of the malignant. Although recurrence of the tumor appears in more than 40% of cases, radical surgical resection is the only method of successful treatment. The significance of the five-year survival rate is doubtful, because recurrent tumors were reported up to 14 years after the initial surgical procedure.