Chest
Clinical InvestigationsMISCELLANEOUSCatamenial Pneumothorax: A Prospective Study
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
All women of reproductive age who had been referred to our center over an 18-month period (ie, July 2000 to December 2001) for surgical treatment of an SP were included in the study. Patients presenting with pneumothorax secondary to a known underlying lung disease were excluded. Indications for referral to our center were as follows: recurrent pneumothorax; persistent (ie, > 5 days) air leak and/or pneumothorax despite adequate chest drainage; and failure of previous surgery.
In the study
Results
In 8 of the 32 women (25%), the catamenial character of pneumothorax was recognized on the basis of clinical history. Their mean age was 32.5 years (age range, 19 to 45 years). Two women had a history of secondary infertility (defined as a failure to conceive following 1 year of unprotected sexual intercourse after having had a child), whereas in no case was pelvic endometriosis known preoperatively (Table 1). In all eight women, the pneumothorax was recurrent (range, 1 to 4 previous episodes)
Discussion
CP involves women of reproductive age and occurs within 72 h from the onset of menstruation. The right side is involved in the great majority of cases (95%), in a recurrent manner.1,6 Several hypotheses about its pathogenesis have been raised including the following: (1) spontaneous rupture of blebs; (2) alveolar rupture caused by prostaglandin-induced bronchiolar constriction; (3) sloughing of endometrial implants of visceral pleura with subsequent air leak; and (4) in the absence of the
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Cited by (0)
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