Mediastinal bronchogenic cyst presenting with pericardial effusion

We report a case of a 58-year-old woman who had a bronchogenic cyst presenting with pericardial effusion. Initially, the effusion had disappeared prior to resection of the cyst, but it reappeared with additional symptoms. Resection of the bronchogenic cyst resulted in complete resolution of the pericardial effusion and additional symptoms such as progressive dyspnea and chest pain. Application of surgical treatment for asymptomatic cysts in adults remains controversial, but we recommend that mediastinal cysts which present with any symptoms should be resected at the time of their discovery, even though the symptoms disappeared for a while.