[Chest wall tumors. Report of 17 cases]

The aim of this work was to evaluate the different approaches to surgical repair of the thoracic wall and to discuss technical indications. From June 1987 to June 1997, we cared for 17 patients, 14 males (82.3%) and 3 females (17.7%) with parietal neoplasia. All patients underwent a preoperative respiratory work-up to identify tumoral extension. In 6 patients, the morphology and location of the tumor led to CT-guided transthoracic needle aspiration. Tumoral excision in 14 patients (82.3%) included wide resection of osteomuscular structures. Reconstruction of the thoracic wall associated myoplasty in all cases. A prosthesis was installed in 5 cases and a rib transposition in 2. Pathology examination of the surgical specimen revealed 13 primary tumors (76.5%) and 4 secondary tumors (23.5%) CT-guided transthoracic needle aspiration confirmed the diagnosis in 82.2% of the cases. Twelve patients (70.5%) were alive and recurrence free at 85.6 +/- 40 months after surgery. Five patients died (29.5%) 12.2 +/- 10.1 months after surgery. There was one case of prosthesis infection (5.8%). The appropriate choice of the surgical technique and repair materials gave satisfactory oncological, esthetic and functional results independently of the extent of the parietal defect.