A Rare Case of Catamenial Pneumothorax and a Review of the Current Literature

A 34-year-old female smoker, with a history of pelvic endometriosis, presented with initial symptoms of shortness of breath and a choking sensation. She was found to have a right pneumothorax on chest x-ray. Over the next eight months, she ultimately underwent three tube thoracostomies, two video-assisted thoracoscopic surgeries (VATS), wedge resection, and repeated pleurodesis due to pneumothorax recurrence. She was seen multiple times post-surgically with the focus of treatment being smoking cessation rather than contraceptive therapy, despite an early follow-up visit noting that the initial symptoms coincided with her menstruation. The purpose of this article is to bring attention to this rarely diagnosed condition. With added awareness and understanding of the underlying causes and available treatments, medical providers could likely spare many women from similar experiences and dramatically improve the quality of their lives.