CHEST-WALL HAMARTOMA - AN ALARMING CHEST LESION WITH A BENIGN COURSE

Chest wall hamartoma is a very rare mass lesion of the chest wall that is manifest at birth or in early infancy with deformity of the thorac ic well and/or varying grades of respiratory distress. The authors rep ort on an 11-month-old infant presenting with chest wail hamartoma who was treated by en bloc excision of the lesion including the involved ribs. They emphasize the importance of early and complete excision of the lesion even in minimally symptomatic patients to avoid lethal resp iratory complications, more severe postoperative orthopedic problems, and malignant transformation. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Comp any.