[Primary tumors of the thoracic wall (1991-1994)]

Between 1991 and 1994, 582 operations were performed in our service; 19 (3.26%) were on primitive tumors of the chest wall. We analyze the data for these patients, including age, sex, clinical findings, chest images, diagnoses, therapy and course. Ten tumors were benign and 9 were malignant. The most frequent clinical findings were pain and/or tumor. Diagnosis was achieved before surgery in only 2 cases. Except when there are clear macroscopic and X-ray signs that the tumor is benign, we performed broad exeresis of the chest wall, sometimes also resecting adjacent structures. The defect was repaired directly in 12 cases. The defects were covered by prostheses and/or muscle plasty in the remaining patients. The most frequent tumor was chondrosarcoma (3 cases), followed by 2 cases of osteoblastoma and osteochondroma. Only 1 each of the following tumors were found: plasmocytoma, chondroma, fibrous dysplasia, eosinophilic granuloma, osteosarcoma, Ewing's tumor, epithelioid sarcoma, fibrosarcoma, hemangioma, benign neurilemmoma, desmoid tumor and liposarcoma. Two patients with chondrosarcoma were operated on for recurrences and there was also recurrence in the patient with Ewing's tumor. We conclude that: 1) chest wall tumors are infrequent, 2) radical exeresis is the treatment of choice and prosthesis is often necessary, and 3) chondrosarcoma, with poor outcome in our patients, is the most frequent tumor.