To explore the surgical treatment of thoracic giant tumor and study the special treatment experience for the interoperate and postoperative process.

Data of 50 thoracic giant tumor cases (26 male and 24 female)hospitalized from January 2010 to June 2013 in Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of General Hospital of the Chinese People′s Liberation Army was analyzed retrospectively. The patients vary in age from 0.5 to 77.

All 43 tumors were resected completely, the others were subtotal resected. The operation procedures were simple tumor resection in 46 cases, combined superior vena cava and innominate vein angioplasty in 1 case and pulmonary resection in 3 cases. Operation approaches were median longitudinal sternum incision in 8 cases, lateral thoracotomy approach in 39 cases, unilateral chest incision with transverse sternum incision in 1 case, unilateral chest incision with transverse clavicle incision in 1 case, neck transverse incision in 1 case. The weight of the tumors ranged from 628 to 2 586 gram. Bleeding ranged from 400-1500 ml. No postoperative death was observed but only one patient died to DIC caused by reexpansin pulmonary edema.

The thoracic giant tumor cases always accompany with severe symptoms. Surgery is effective for conservative treatment in the aspect of relieving symptoms. The principle of choosing the approach is to operate close to the tumor and to facilitate the extension of operation. Both Integrity excision and subtotal excision are acceptable. Avoiding bleeding during operation and taking measures for prevention of recurrent pulmonary edema are vital.