An unusual timing for symptomatic chest pain in an adult chest wall myofibroma: a case report

Journal of Medical Case Reports

Hung Chang¹  Chin-Li Chen¹ 

[1] Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, No.325, Section 2, Cheng-Kung Road, Taipei 114, Taiwan

关键词: Thoracotomy;    Myofibroma;    Chest wall tumor;    Chest pain;   

Others  :  814068
DOI  :  10.1186/1752-1947-8-210

 received in 2013-12-28, accepted in 2014-04-07,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Introduction

Myofibromas are benign mesenchymal neoplasms that can present as solitary and multicentric lesions. They can occur in several locations and can occur at any age from neonates to elderly patients. However, most of the lesions are found in neonates and babies. It rarely occurs in adults.

Case presentation

A 29-year-old Taiwanese man presented with persistent dull chest pain in his right lateral chest wall for 2 weeks. A chest X-ray showed a faint patchy opacity over the periphery of his right upper lung zone. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a lobulated mass at the intercostal space between his right fifth and sixth ribs with contrast enhancement and bone invasion. Malignancy could not be excluded. A percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy failed due to technique issues, so he underwent a thoracotomy and the tumor was excised with Marlex mesh repairs for the thoracic defect. Pathology confirmed a myofibroma without malignancy. He recovered uneventfully and no local recurrence was detected at the 1-year follow-up examination.

Conclusions

Chest wall myofibroma presenting with chest pain has never been reported in adults. It is a challenge to differentiate myofibroma from malignancy in chest wall preoperatively, such as seen in our patient. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been previously reported in the scientific literature. Although myofibroma rarely occurs in the chest wall and adults, it must be suspected in any chest wall tumor presenting with chest pain.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Chen and Chang; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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