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Spontaneous pneumothorax in children with osteosarcoma.

9070 Background: Spontaneous pneumothorax (SPx) is an emergency situation and early diagnosis and management is very important. SPx may sometimes be seen as a complication of malignancy or its treatment. SPx have been reported in some osteosarcoma patients, mostly in adults. The incidence of SPx in children with osteosarcoma is not well documented. The aim of this paper is to investigate the incidence, treatment and outcome of children with osteosarcoma in a single institution and to review the literature.


METHODS
Files of all children with osteosarcoma diagnosed and treated in a single institute during September 1989 and December 2002 and followed up until September 2005 were investigated retrospectively for the development of SPx and its outcome.


RESULTS
Three of the 81 children (3.7%) developed pneumothorax during their follow-up. Two cases had lung metastases and one case had a broncho-pleural fistula but no metastatic foci at the time pneumotorax was detected. He subsequently developed lung metastasis. Retrospectively, it was suspected that the bronchopleural fistula might have been a manifestation of an undetected micrometastasis. The incidence of developing spontaneous pneumotorax in children with osteosarcoma was 3.7% (3/81) in this single institution survey. We have also reviewed the 45 osteosarcoma cases with pneumothorax in the literature. Including the three cases reported in this paper, 39 of the 48 (81%) were metastatic.


CONCLUSIONS
Although spontaneous pneumothorax is a rare event in the cancer patient, it should be kept in mind if there is worsening of pulmonary symptoms or shoulder pain. SPx is encountered mostly in metastatic patients, although it may occur in non-metastatic cases. No significant financial relationships to disclose.