Mediastinal disease

Cystic masses are generally congenital and arise anywhere in the mediastinum, and MR imaging is useful to confirm their cystic nature, especially in those cysts with soft tissue attenuation at CT. In the thymus, chemical shift MR imaging can characterize the normal thymus and thymic hyperplasia by detecting tiny amounts of fat tissue within the thymus and differentiate such benign processes from thymic tumors. Malignant lymphoma is a disease relatively common in the mediastinum, and MR provides important information, especially in the assessment of viability of residual masses in treated lymphoma. In the diagnosis of neurogenic tumors, MR imaging can precisely evaluate shape, location, intraspinal extension, and internal components of these tumors.