title: Spontaneous intercostal pulmonary hernia with subsegmental incarceration.
abstract: A case of acute intercostal pulmonary herniation due to vigorous coughing secondary to chronic bronchitis is reported in a 70-year-old male. Protruding pleura-covered lung tissue was found bulging through an intercostal space defect between the left midaxillary line and the infrasternal costochondral arch. A hernial sac consisting of parietal pleura and atrophic intercostal muscle confined a "sliding pouch" for two pulmonary segments of which one presented a demarcation zone of temporary incarceration interpreted as an entrapment of lung tissue between two ribs. A fracture gap was discovered affecting the anterior synostosis between ribs 7 and 8. Treatment was accomplished by anterior fixation of the ribs and by the basic principles of hernia repair between adjacent ribs. A case report and a brief survey of aetiological and anatomical classification is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sloth-Nielsen
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Jurik
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000150:complications*; D003371:Cough / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D006547:Hernia; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography; D012253:Rib Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D013908:Thoracotomy