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Painless soft tissue mass of the left lower chest wall
I. Kokkonouzis, G. Laoutidis, Ch. Merminkis, P. Opsimoulis, K. Psathakis, K. Tsintiris
Pulmonary Clinic, 401 Military Hospital, Athens, Thoracic Surgery Clinic, 401 Military Hospital, Athens
ABSTRACT. Chest wall involvement is a rare manifestation of tuberculosis. We present a case of a 66 year old male, farmer, who was admitted to our hospital due to the appearance of a 5 cm in diameter soft tissue mass on his left lower chest wall. After one month, when the patient was admitted again for surgical resection, a three-fold increase of the diameter of the mass was observed. A percutaneous biopsy and drainage were performed and the pus was microscopically examined. The results revealed the presence of mycobacterium tuberculosis (Ziehl-Nielsen stain). The patient was started on chemotherapy for tuberculosis. This unusual manifestation of tuberculosis should be a part of the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with a chest wall mass. CT and MRI examinations are the best imaging procedures to provide useful information about the extent and the nature of the disease. Pneumon 2006; 19(4):376-380.
Key words: Chest wall abscess, tuberculosis, chest CT, chest MRI.
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