Salvage surgery using simultaneous clamshell thoracotomy with median sternotomy for mediastinal growing teratoma syndrome

This report describes the case of a 17‐year‐old man who developed mediastinal growing teratoma syndrome following two cycles of chemotherapy, after an initial diagnosis of primary mediastinal nonseminomatous germ cell tumor. The large, rapidly‐growing mediastinal tumor was completely resected in conjunction with right pneumonectomy, using simultaneous clamshell thoracotomy and median sternotomy. The salvage surgery with perioperative management involved in mediastinal growing teratoma syndrome is presented here. KEY POINTS: SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS OF THE STUDY: The diagnosis and surgical management are challenging for patients with mediastinal growing teratoma syndrome. Nevertheless, with proper operative planning, favorable outcomes can be attained with complete resection despite the characteristic rapid growth and massive size of these neoplasms. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: In spite of postoperative sternal dehiscence, we believe that a simultaneous clamshell thoracotomy with median sternotomy approach remains a viable option for an extremely large mediastinal growing teratoma, when tumor size prevents safe resection using other approaches due to limited visualization.