Unusual Case of Pneumothorax Caused by Costal Osteochondroma

Rahul Vemula, Sarav Shah, Lournes J. Willekes II

Department of Surgery, Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, USA.
Division of Thoracic Surgery, Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, USA.
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/ojts.2012.24022                

Abstract

Osteochondroma is the most common benign cartilage tumor. Although, most lesions are asymptomatic, life-threatening conditions caused osteochondromas have been reported in the literature such pneumothorax, hemothorax, diaphragmatic rupture, and lung injury. We report a case of a thirty year old male who presented with shortness of breath and was found to have a pneumothorax on chest X-ray. Subsequent Computed Tomography of the chest revealed a 1.3 cm growth on the posterior portion of the fourth right rib protruding into the right middle lobe. The patient underwent thoracoscopic resection of the lesion along with a wedge resection of the right middle lobe. The rib was reconstructed using a metal plate. He remains asymptomatic without recurrence on a one year follow up.

Keywords

Osteochondroma; VATS; Thoracoscopy; Thoracic Oncology

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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