Abstract
Neurofibromatosis is generally a benign disease, but has the potential for rare and fatal complications, such as spontaneous hemothorax. We report a case of massive hemothorax due to neurofibroma in a 49-year-old woman with neurofibromatosis type 1. The configuration of the radiological opacity and frank blood withdrawn on thoracentesis should suggest the diagnosis of hemothorax in a patient with neurofibromatosis. Surgical treatment for hemothorax is limited by arterial fragility and the prognosis is relatively poor. Any evidence of aneurysmal disease in the thoracic vessels should be aggressively managed percutaneously by coil embolization to prevent future rupture.
Copyright
Association for Helping Neurosurgical Sick People. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Derivative-Non Commercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit.
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License, which permits unrestricted reproduction and distribution, for non-commercial purposes only; and use and reproduction, but not distribution, of adapted material for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited.