TWO CASES OF CATAMENIAL PNEUMOTHORAX

The present paper reports two cases of recurrent catamenial pneumothorax closely associated with menstruation.The first patient was a 17-year-old high school student with left pneumothorax manifestin gimmediately after the onset of menstruation. At the age of 16 years she underwent operation for left spontaneous pneumothorax. Because of the diagnosis of recurrent pneumothorax, another operation was performed, and a lesion in the left diaphragm was resected. The second patient, a 35-year-old housewife, had recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax of the right side occurring 1 or 2 days before the onset of menstruation. A lesion with a small hole in the right diaphragm was found and resected. Histological examination of the resected diaphragm revealed no evidence of endometriosis in either patient.Although catamenial pneumothorax is a comparatively rare disease, it can be easily diagnosed by takin ginto account the relation between its manifestation and menstruation. Care should be taken not to overlook diaphragmatic lesions during thoracotomy, the treatment of choice for this disease.