Therapeutic study, level IV.

We report a case of a posterior mediastinal mature cystic teratoma with rupture secondary to blunt chest trauma in a 20-year-old male involved in a motor-vehicle accident. Initial treatment was guided by Advanced Trauma Life Support and a tube thoracostomy was performed for presumed hemothorax. The heterogeneous collection within the thoracic cavity was discovered to be the result of a ruptured cystic mass. Pathologic findings confirmed the mass consistent with a mature cystic teratoma. As mediastinal teratomas are most commonly described arising from the anterior mediastinum, the posterior location of the teratoma described in this report is exceedingly rare.

No abstract