Azygous lobe presenting as a posterior mediastinal mass in a 2-year-old boy.
Posterior mediastinal masses encompass a varied group of surgical lesions that include malignant diseases as well as the anatomic malformations of four organ systems. The authors report on a 2-year-old child with a posterior mediastinal mass who was found at thoracotomy to have a chronically infected "hepatized" azygous lobe of the right lung. The authors review current literature on this topic as well as the embryogenesis of azygous lobes.