Fibromatosis of the chest wall in children: a case report

Fibromatosis is often found in the anterior abdominal wall of parous women. It occurs rarely in the chest wall and is rarely found in children. Our case was a 7-year-old male patient with a rapid-growing, painless tumor in the right anterior chest wall for 6 months. He received a resection of the tumor, the bilateral clavicular heads, the upper-third of the sternum and segments of the first and second ribs bilaterally. Reconstruction was conducted by transposition of the pectoralis major muscle and a prosthesis of wire mesh with methyl methacrylate. Histologically, the tumor showed dense collagenous tissue consistent with mature aggressive fibromatosis. It was a benign tumor without distant metastatic potential but with an aggressive clinical behavior. Although postoperative radiotherapy is usually indicated in adults, it was reserved due to the immature skeleton of this boy. In this case, the use of a rigid prosthesis avoided tracheostomy and postoperative ventilation.