title: [A case of catamenial pneumothorax due to diaphragmatic endometriosis confirmed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery].
abstract: We describe a case of catamenial pneumothorax caused by diaphragmatic endometriosis and histologically confirmed thoracoscopically. The patient was a 33-year-old woman who had had recurrent right chest pain starting on the day preceding each menstruation since she was 26 years of age. In June 2001, at the age of 33, she felt right chest pain and developed dyspnea, and so came to our hospital. Chest radiography showed bilateral pneumothorax. Timely thoracoscopy revealed the characteristic appearances of catamenial pneumothorax such as a blueberry spot on the central tendon of the right diaphragm and a purplish-red locus in the right apex. Histopathological examination further confirmed the presence of endometrial tissue on the diaphragm as well as in the lesion of the right lung. Despite resection of the endometrial tissues from the right hemidiaphragm and the lung under thoracoscopy, right pneumothorax recurred after one month. Since then, the patient's condition has been well controlled by therapy with gonadotropin releasing hormone, with no recurrence of catamenial pneumothorax.
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Medicine, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Sakae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.forename: Masateru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawabata
authors.forename: Eiyasu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsuboi
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Narui
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakatani
authors.forename: Tadasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Motoi
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003964:Diaphragm / Q000473:pathology*; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008598:Menstruation; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000209:etiology*; D012008:Recurrence; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted