title: Spontaneous hemothorax caused by a ruptured intercostal artery aneurysm in von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis.
abstract: Aneurysms arising from an intercostal artery are very rare vascular malformations in von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis, which often have a silent clinical presentation and are difficult to diagnose before rupture. We report a case of von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis with massive hemothroax caused by spontaneous rupture of an intercostal artery aneurysm in a 29-year-old man. The diagnosis was eventually confirmed by percutaneous angiography and treated with endovascular embolization. During a 10-month follow-up period, the patient had a satisfactory recovery. This case illustrates that angiography and possible endovascular embolization should be the first strategy in managing hemothorax in patients with von Recklinghausen's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tri-Service General Hospital and National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wei-Chou
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Hsian-He
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Hung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Cheng-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017542:Aneurysm, Ruptured / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D006491:Hemothorax / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009456:Neurofibromatosis 1 / Q000150:complications*; D013895:Thoracic Arteries