Chest wall lesions

Chest wall lesions in childhood include a wide range of pathologies. Benign lesions include lipoma, neurofibroma, lymphangioma, haemangioma and mesenchymal hamartoma. Malignant lesions include neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewings sarcoma, Askin tumour and primitive neuroectodermal tumours. Manifestations of systemic diseases such as leukaemia, lymphoma, Langerhans cell histocytosis and infections such as tuberculosis and actinomycosis may also cause chest wall lesions. The imaging characteristics of the above are reviewed but only a minority of lesions show diagnostic imaging characteristics. Most lesions require biopsy and histopathological examination for definitive diagnosis. The role of different imaging modalities is discussed, with an emphasis on magnetic resonance imaging for demonstrating lesion morphology and local spread, with computed tomography and nuclear medicine being used mainly to assess remote disease.