Intercostal hemangioma of the chest wall

Abstract

The authors describe a case of a 36-year-old patient who had six months’ pain of the thoracic spine and left chest. A soft slowly growing resistance was present on the dorso-lateral side of the left chest wall, in the range of the seventh to ninth rib. According to the medical history, the patient did not have any prior trauma and malignancy. A well-defined tumor of the left chest wall with calcifications, which grew to the seventh and eighth intercostal space, was present on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scans. The patient underwent resection of the tumor with the chest wall and reconstruction with polypropylene mesh. Histologically, it was a venous hemangioma, one of very rare tumors of the chest wall.

Intercostal Muscle Cavernous Haemangioma: A Chest Wall Pandora’s Box: Intercostal muscle cavernous hemangioma

“…Haemangiomas are asymptomatic, but pain occurs as a result of compression of the adjacent intercostal nerve or intervening neurovascular bundle. Histologically, they are categorized into five subtypes: capillary, cavernous, venous, arteriovenous or mixed [3] . Preoperative evaluation with a detailed medical history, clinical examination and radiological investigations is necessary.…”

“…Wide local excision with a tumour-free margin is an accepted treatment of choice [2] . Reconstruction of the chest wall should be considered in lesions involving a major portion of the chest wall (three or more ribs) or an anterolateral defect of more than 5 cm [3] . Various traditional techniques including muscle flap, meshes (biologic/titanium) and methyl methacrylate have been used for chest wall reconstruction, but more recently titanium plates have been used as a prosthetic device as they are biologically inert, less corrosive, resistant to traction and…”

A Very Rare Case of Mixed Intercostal Hemangioma and Literature Review

“…The literature describes sporadic cases of different types of intercostal hemangiomas. Many papers reported venous tumors [4]- [5], arterio-venous entities [6], cavernous tumors [7], capillary hemangioma [8] and intramuscular large vessels type tumors [9]. Very rare cases of mixed intercostal hemangiomas were described.…”

Intercostal hemangioma: Case report of a rare chest wall tumor in childhood

“…Hemangiomas rarely occur in the intercostal space, and most of these originate from intercostal muscles [7]. It is usually occurring before the age of 30, with no sex difference [8]. Watson and McCarthy postulated two theories for the etiology of hemangiomas.…”