[Thoracoscopic treatment of secondary pneumothorax to costal osteochondroma]

Costal osteochondromas are benign, uncommon and usually asymptomatic tumors, but may be associated with severe intrathoracic complications such as pneumothorax, hemothorax, nerve or vascular injury and fractures. We report a 12 year old patient, who presented a right spontaneous pneumothorax, which did not improve with standard treatment. Thoracic CT showed a costal exostosis of 2.5 cm in length. Excision was performed by videothoracoscopy (VATS), with good postoperative course. We consider the thoracoscopic approach as the most appropriate initial way in this type of tumors.