”Look! This is what was taken out of Linlin’s chest cavity, like an egg, right?” Li Qun, director of the Pediatric Cardiology Center of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zheng University, pointed to the egg-sized tissue in the tray and explained to Linlin’s parents waiting at the door of the operating room, “It’s because this ‘egg’ is compressing Linlin’s airway that she is coughing repeatedly.” Linlin is a pretty little girl of 4.5 years old, but she has a bad constitution, often has fever and cough, and is a frequent visitor to the hospital. What is this situation? Does Linlin have a tumor at such a young age? What if it is a tumor? Was it benign or malignant? With a series of questions, Linlin’s family found Li Qun, director of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, after asking many questions. Dr. Li Qun, the chief physician, carefully reviewed Linlin’s examination report and concluded that there was a mediastinal tumor in Linlin, and performed “left upper mediastinal tumor resection” for Linlin after perfecting relevant examinations and active preoperative preparation. “Director Li Qun carefully and conscientiously peeled off the “egg” and showed it to Linlin’s family, which led to the scene at the beginning of the article. So what is mediastinal tumor? Chief physician Li Qun explained: Mediastinal tumor refers to the abnormal tissue formed by the remnants of embryonic tissue or the primary or metastatic tumor from the mediastinal tissue. Mediastinal tumors can occur in all age groups. The most common ones in children are neurogenic tumors, lymphomas, primary cysts, and germ cell tumors. The clinical presentation of mediastinal tumors is diverse, ranging from asymptomatic on incidental X-ray findings to symptoms associated with invasion and extrusion and some systemic symptoms. Infants and children are more likely to develop symptoms than adults because of the small volume gap in the chest cavity. Common symptoms of mediastinal tumor are chest pain, cough and fever. The tumor invades the bone or nerve and causes severe pain; the tumor and the resulting pleural fluid compressing the airway may cause coughing, wheezing and dyspnea, etc. The tumor may break into the trachea and produce hemoptysis, and fever may occur if combined with infection. The tumor can also compress the superior vena cava, causing jugular vein anger, facial and upper chest edema; hoarseness can occur when the recurrent laryngeal nerve is compressed or invaded. In principle, surgery should be performed as soon as possible after the tumor is diagnosed. The purpose of surgery is not only to remove the mass, but also to further clarify the nature of the mass through histological examination. For some malignant tumors that are estimated to be difficult to be removed or erode important organs and blood vessels, biopsy can be considered first, and chemotherapy or radiotherapy can be applied according to the pathological results, and then surgery can be performed after the tumor shrinks. After removal of malignant tumor, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy should be added according to its pathological type. In this case, Linlin had a mediastinal tumor as described above. The operation of Linlin was successful, and after careful treatment and care by all medical staff in the cardiac center, Linlin was successfully removed from the ventilator and transferred out of the care unit. At present, the child is recovering well, and her parents praise the excellent team led by Director Li Qun, Qiu Wuying and Nurse Manager Shang Lili for their excellent skills and strong sense of responsibility, which have enabled her to recover.