Video-assisted thoracic surgery compared with posterolateral thoracotomy for mediastinal bronchogenic cysts in adult patients

Bronchogenic cyst (BC) is a rare congenital malformation, which arises from abnormal budding of the ventral diverticulum of the foregut or the tracheobronchial tree between the 26th and 40th days of gestation (1,2). Depending on the timing, the said abnormality may be located in the mediastinum or the pulmonary parenchyma but rarely in the extra-thoracic sites (2,3). Although BCs are the most common primary cysts found in the mediastinum and represent 18% of all primary mediastinal malformations, the exact incidence of Mediastinal bronchogenic cysts (MBCs) is unknown because most patients are asymptomatic (1,4,5). However, more and more patients were detected because of the advanced diagnostic equipment and the increasing application of routine medical examinations in recent years