Fibrosing mediastinitis as a cause of right claudication.

Fibrosing mediastinitis is a rare benign disorder caused by proliferation of acellular collagen and dense paucicellular fibrous tissue within the mediastinum. Its precise cause, pathogenesis and links to infectious (such as histoplasmosis or tuberculosis) and non-infectious (such as sclerosing cholangitis) diseases remain speculative. Affected patients present signs and symptoms related to obstruction of mediastinal hollow organs, such as large vessels, esophagus and airways. The present study reports the first case described in medical literature of medullar compression by a mediastinal mass penetrated into the spinal canal through neural foramens and causing claudication.