Catamenial Pneumothorax Due to Bilateral Pulmonary Endometriosis Hsin-Yuan Fang MD PhD, Chia-Ing Jan MD, Chien-Kuang Chen MD,

Co-existence of catamenial pneumothorax and hemoptysis is rare. We present a case of catamenial pneumothorax due to bilateral pulmonary endometriosis in a 45-year-old woman. The patient presented with a 3-year history of intermittent productive cough with blood-tinged sputum, chronic anemia, loss of appetite, and general weakness associated with menstruation. Three years prior to this presentation the patient had undergone a sigmoidectomy as treatment for endometriosis of the sigmoid colon with bleeding. Chest radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scan revealed multiple nodules in both lung parenchyma and recurrent pneumothorax. CT-guided biopsy re-vealed chronic inflammation of those pulmonary nodules, and laboratory studies disclosed elevated serum levels of carbohydrate antigen 19–9 (CA 19–9) and CA 125. Thoracoscopic wedge resection of the pulmonary nodules was performed, and histopathological examination of the resected nod-ules revealed endometriosis. At one-year follow-up there was no evidence of recurrence of gastro-intestinal bleeding or pneumothorax. Key words: pulmonary endometriosis; catamenial pneumothorax; thoracoscopic surgery. [Respir Care 2012;57(7):1182–1185. © 2012 Daedalus Enterprises]