[The outcome of patients with mediastinal tumors detected by mass screening versus the outcome of those initially presentating with symptoms].

Forty seven patients with mediastinal tumors, who were diagnosed between 1976 and 1996 at Tsukuba University Hospital, were evaluated according to the circumstances surrounding their initial consultations. The outcome of 19 patients (40.4%) whose tumors were detected by mass screening was compared with the outcome of 20 patients (42.6%) whose tumors were detected after presenting with symptoms. In the mass screening group, only 21% of the patients had a malignant neoplasm, whereas 75% of patients in the symptomatic group had a malignant neoplasm (p = 0.0008). Patients in the screening group had a shorter hospital stay than those in the symptomatic group (60.5 vs. 118. 1days; p = 0.0022). In patients with thymomas, in the mass screening all patients group were at stage I or II. Only 20% of the lesions in symptomatic patients were at stage I or II (p < 0.0001). Based on the results of this study, we believe that the early detection of mediastinal tumors via mass screening might have clinical significance.