Lymphangiography can help to diagnose lymphatic vessel disease and underlying diseases, localize the leakage site for surgical therapy and prevent unnecessary surgical interventions. It may also play a role in occluding the leakage site and predicting the occurrence of adverse events due to thoracic duct ligation. We recommend lymphangiography in patients with intractable spontaneous chylothorax.

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Rationale: Ganglioneuroma (GN) is a rare tumor that originates from neural crest cells and can manifest in any location along the sympathetic chain. It typically exhibits a circular or oval shape and does not invade the surrounding tissue destructively and the enormous lobular appearance and erosion of adjacent skeletal tissues are extremely infrequent among GN. Patient concerns: A 15-year-old girl presented to our thoracic surgery clinic with a large intrathoracic mass that was incidentally discovered on a chest X-ray. Further imaging with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a lobular profile and an aggressive growth pattern of the tumor, which destroyed the vertebral and rib bones. A tissue sample obtained by needle biopsy was subjected to histopathological analysis, which confirmed the diagnosis of a GN. Diagnosis: Thoracic (posterior mediastinal) GN and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Interventions: After thoracoscopic exploration, a thoracotomy was performed to excise the mass. Outcomes: The patient recovered well after surgery, had no major complications, and was discharged without any issues. Further follow-up is necessary to clarify the medium to long-term outcome. Lessons: Based on existing reports, thoracic GN rarely erodes adjacent bone tissue. By examining previously reported cases, we speculate that the lobular morphology of the tumor may be linked to the more aggressive biological behavior of GN. We also discovered that female patients may be more susceptible to bone erosion. However, further research and additional cases are required to confirm these potential associations.

Biologically inspired by natural skin, polypropylene (PP) ferroelectret films with a human skin-like texture, featuring lightweight, light transmittance, small thickness, stretchability, as well as significant longitudinal and transverse piezoelectric activity, are prepared with a simple procedure, and their piezoelectric properties are characterized. The mechanical structure of the fabricated ferroelectret films is of a double-level cellular structure with distributed tight junctions and dipolar charges deposited on the opposite inner walls of cells. The preliminary results show that the area density, light transmittance, and thickness of the films are 3.5 g/m2, 80%, and 10–20 μm, respectively. A quasi-static piezoelectric d33 coefficient of a few thousand pC/N at 3.4 kPa and a dynamic piezoelectric d31 coefficient of −40 pC/N at a frequency of 80 Hz and a stress of 20 kPa are achieved. The improved piezoelectric performance seems mainly owing to the reduction of the elastic modulus for the double-level structure and the enhancement of charges in deep traps in very thin cell walls. The sound pressure level, generated by an ultrasonic emitter made of the PP ferroelectret film, is about 87 dB at 46 kHz as driven by a voltage of 20 V (peak to peak voltage). An ultra-thin tactile sensor based on the fabricated films can localize positions and detect the track and moving speed of applied force. These results indicate that the cost-efficient films may extend the applications of ferroelectrets in flexible electronics.