Spontaneous hemothorax caused by a ruptured intercostal artery aneurysm in von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis.
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.
Chang
Wei-Chou
WC
Department of Radiology, Tri-Service General Hospital and National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hsu
Hsian-He
HH
Chang
Hung
H
Chen
Cheng-Yu
CY
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