Mediastinal lipomatosis: a complication of high dose steroid therapy in children.

Mediastinal lipomatosis has been described in adults and is a well recognized cause of mediastinal enlargement. Fatty accumulation in the mediastinum has been observed following extended usage of large doses of steroids, generally greater than 60 mg daily. Little documentation of this entity exists in pediatric patients. A 9-year-old male who received large doses of steroids for graft-versus-host disease following bone marrow transplantation for acute myelogenous leukemia developed mediastinal lipomatosis. Early qualification of this diagnosis is especially important in this group of patients, who are also at risk for a second neoplasm.