Chest Wall Leiomyomas: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Leiomyomas are benign soft tissue tumors that originate in the smooth muscles. Pleura and chest wall are uncommon location for such tumors. Leiomyomas located in the chest wall may originate from smooth muscles of the chest wall region beginning from the subpleural connective tissue of the parietal pleura, to the subdermal tissue. These tumors have been defined in literature using two different terms: %u201Cpleural leiomyoma%u201D and %u201Cchest wall leiomyoma%u201D. Both possess similar radiological signs independent from the tissue from which they originate, which are either subpleural connective tissue or other structures in the chest wall. It is therefore difficult to make a clear determination of the tissue from which they originate. Parietal pleura is also accepted as a part of the chest wall, and thus, in our opinion, the term %u201Cchest wall leiomyoma%u201D can be described as comprising both groups. The current study presents a 56-year-old male patient who had a space-occupying mass in the left hemi-thorax. After resection of the mass, pathological examination diagnosed it as chest wall leiomyoma