2022 Volume 58 Issue 1 Pages 68-72
Here, we present the case of a 12-year-old girl with hemothorax caused by costal osteochondroma. She was diagnosed as having osteochondroma on limb bones during infancy and monitored since then. She presented with chest pain and difficulty in breathing when she was 12 years old. Chest CT scan revealed right-sided hemothorax and bony spicule on the right seventh and eight ribs. Since there was no recent history of trauma, we diagnosed her as having hemothorax caused by costal osteochondroma. Twenty days after the onset, we performed video-assisted thoracic partial costectomy. There was osteochondroma protruding from the seventh rib into the right thoracic cavity with fibrous adhesion. We considered the lesion as the cause of hemothorax, and we then resected a part of the seventh rib. Her postoperative course was uneventful. She was discharged on the sixth postoperative day. She has had no recurrence of bleeding nor respiratory symptoms after discharge so far. Pediatric surgeons should consider osteochondroma as a differential diagnosis for hemothorax of unknown etiology.
