Resected osteochondroma of the rib in an elderly patient

Solitary osteochondroma of the rib is a rare primary chest wall tumor. Herein, we report a case of a successfully resected osteochondroma of the rib. The patient was a 73-year-old asymptomatic woman who came to our hospital regularly for treatment of hypertension and hyperlipidemia. A checkup chest roentgenogram showed a shadow at the right anterior chest wall consistent with a mass, and computed tomography showed a tumor arising from the right fourth rib. Because it was impossible to exclude completely the diagnosis of a well-differentiated chondrosarcoma, we performed resection of the right anterior chest wall and a re construction with a rigid prosthesis. The post operative course of the patient was unremarkable. The final pathological diagnosis of the rib tumor was osteochondroma.