Catamenial pneumothorax: a case report and review of the literature

Dafne Papafragaki, Papafragaki D, Concannon L, Laura Concannon
Journal of women's health (2002) · 2008 · vol. 17(3) , pp. 367–372 · doi:10.1089/jwh.2007.0553 · PMID:18328011 · W2062868870
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This case report describes a rare instance of catamenial pneumothorax in a 39-year-old woman, presenting with symptoms correlating to her menstrual cycle and treated with hormonal therapy after recurrence.

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Abstract

A 39-year-old woman presented with the chief complaint of right-sided chest pressure and shortness of breath with dry cough for 3 days. These symptoms coincided with the onset of her menstrual cycle. Her physical examination was significant for decreased breath sounds at the right lung base. Her chest x-ray showed a moderate sized right pneumothorax extending from the apex to the lung base and a small amount of pleural fluid, findings that were verified by chest CT. The patient was seen by consultants from the pulmonary, obstetrics/gynecology, and thoracic surgery services, who agreed that the clinical diagnosis was catamenial pneumothorax, probably associated with thoracic endometriosis. The patient was discharged on levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol tablets, which she opted not to take. Three months later, she had similar symptoms that occurred again at the time of menstruation. Her chest x-ray now showed a 10% right-sided pneumothorax. Catamenial pneumothorax is a rare condition affecting women in their reproductive years. Women with this condition most commonly have right-sided pneumothorax. The proper diagnosis is based on being aware of the existence of this relatively rare condition and relating the symptoms of pneumothorax temporally to the menses.

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Condition tags

endometriosisthoracic_endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Menstruation Disturbances Pneumothorax Adult Adult Diagnosis, Differential Diagnosis, Differential Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Humans Humans Menstruation Menstruation Menstruation Disturbances Menstruation Disturbances Pneumothorax Pneumothorax Pneumothorax

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (21)

Cited by (16)

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