Catamenial Pneumothorax: A Rare Diagnosis Among Menstruating Women

Kimberly H. Nguyen, Kimberly Nguyen, Brian Nudelman, Brian G Nudelman, Jorge Quiros, Marianne Cortes, Cristina Savu
Cureus · 2023 · vol. 15(9) , pp. e45769 · doi:10.7759/cureus.45769 · PMID:37872905 · W4386958749
article OA: diamond CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This case report describes a 21-year-old female with recurrent pneumothorax linked to her menstrual cycle, highlighting catamenial pneumothorax and the need for further research into its pathophysiology and treatment.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This 2023 case report studied a 21-year-old menstruating woman with recurrent right-sided spontaneous pneumothorax occurring within 48–72 hours of menses onset, meeting the “sine qua non” catamenial pneumothorax timing criteria across two admissions. Using sequential chest imaging, pleural catheter management, and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, the authors found suspected pleural/chest wall and diaphragm implants and performed resection plus mechanical pleurodesis, followed by hormonal therapy with a GnRH agonist (and noted pelvic ultrasound showing small free fluid). Pathology showed chronic inflammation and reactive pleural changes without evidence of endometriosis, which the authors flag as an important limitation given the proposed association with endometriosis and the condition’s unclear etiology. This paper is centrally about endometriosis—catamenial pneumothorax is presented as an endometriosis-associated rare cause of recurrent pneumothorax in a patient whose episodes track with her menstrual cycle.

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Abstract

Catamenial Pneumothorax is a rare condition often associated with endometriosis in menstruating women. Due to the rarity of this condition, its etiology is not well studied and, thus, effective treatment regimens have not been well established. We present a case of a 21-year-old female with no significant past medical history who developed recurrent episodes of spontaneous pneumothorax, chronologically associated with her menstrual cycle. This pattern is known as the sine qua non criteria and is one of the only established criteria in current literature for diagnosing catamenial pneumothorax. Our aim with this case report is to expand the current collection of published knowledge about this rare condition and to bring awareness so that those affected by catamenial pneumothorax can be diagnosed and treated more efficiently. Additional research on the pathophysiology of this disease needs to be done to aid in the development of effective treatment regimens.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

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