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This paper presents the diagnosis and surgical treatment of 60 patients with mediastinal tumors proven by pathology. The pathological types were: 36.7% teratodermoid tumor, 33.3% thymoma, 10% mediastinal cyst, 8.3% neurogenic tumor, 5% intrathoracic goiter and 6.7% other rare tumors. Fourty two of the 44 patients with benign tumors underwent resection. Of the 16 patients with malignant tumors, only 7 had the tumor removed, and the rest 9 were given exploration and biopsy. The majority of teratodermoid tumors was benign but perforation and infection added the difficulties to operation. The most common complication of thymoma was myasthenia gravis which comprised 35% in this study. The relation between thymoma and myasthenia gravis is intricate. The benign thymoma was much better in the resectability and survival rate than the malignant thymoma. Finally, the differential diagnosis between the benign and malignant thymomas is discussed. A rare case of malignant thymoma complicated by hypertrophic osteoarthropathy is reported in detail.