OBJECTIVES:The objectives of our study being categorization of the masses according to the mediastinal compartments, study their CT characteristics and to compare the CT findings with histopathological findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who were suspected to have a mediastinal mass either on clinical examination or on the basis of an abnormal chest radiograph. Thorough clinical history and clinical examination of the patients was done before CT examination. The images were studied in mediastinal, lung and bone window settings. Biopsy of the masses was taken wherever possible. RESULTS: Our study included a total of 50 cases, 31males and 19 females. Cough (n=35, 70%) and dyspnoea (n=28, 46%) were the major presenting complaints. Anterior mediastinum (n=15, 39.4%) is the most commonly involved compartment followed by posterior mediastinum (n=12, 31.5%) and middle mediastinum (n=11, 28.9%). Trans compartmental involvement is more commonly seen involving the anterior and middle mediastinum. The majority of the mediastinal masses are well defined (n=36, 72%), with soft tissue (n=34, 68%) attenuation on plain CT, showing heterogeneous enhancement (n=22, 44%) on contrast study. Masses involved the adjacent structures in 48% cases (n=24) and associated lung findings and bony changes were seen in 64% (n=32) and 14% cases (n=7) respectively. CONCLUSION: To conclude, CT is an important modality in the evaluation of mediastinal masses for their exact localization, analyzing their morphology and arriving at a provisional diagnosis for optimal patient management.

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a total of 70 patients with solitary thyroid nodule underwent thyroid US with 7.5-12 MHz, linear array transducer of ESOATE MYLAB 40. The following characteristics of each nodule were determined: Nodule diameter, Shape, Margins, Internal Contents, Echo texture, Halo, Presence and pattern of calcification, Pattern of vascularity, resistive index (RI) of Intranodular/Peripheral vessels, and Association of cervical lymphadenopathy. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were obtained. The results were then compared to the fine needle aspiration (FNA)/Histopathological diagnosis. Diagnostic accuracy of US was determined using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Statistically significant (P<.05) findings of malignancy were: taller than-wide shape, lobulated/poorly defined margins, hypoechogenicity and marked hypoechogenicity, thick incomplete/absent halo, microcalcification, central/ central >peripheral pattern of vascularity and associated cervical lymphadenopathy. The overall diagnostic accuracy of thyroid US for differentiating a malignant lesion from a benign one was found to be 84.3%. CONCLUSION: Taller-than-wide shape, Lobulated/poorly defined margins, Hypoechogenicity and Marked hypoechogenicity, Microcalcifications and Central/central >peripheral pattern of vascularity are helpful criteria for the discrimination of malignant from benign nodules. Thyroid US achieved a good overall diagnostic accuracy in the categorization of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.