*Catamenial Pneumothorax DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82564*

*Pneumothorax*

very rare [24].

**Figure 1.**

was reported to have a diameter of 10 cm.

responsible for these ruptures [43, 44].

black, white, grayish, and grayish-purple [1–20, 51].

**7.2 Thoracic lesions**

Visouli et al. also reported five cases of catamenial pneumothorax [24], which contains a case very similar regarding liver protrusion, and they have recommended that these findings should be included in the characteristic findings of catamenial and thoracic endometriosis-related pneumothorax, although this presentation is

*(a) and (b) Thoracoscopic view of diaphragmatic endometriosis. Fenestrations can be seen on the surface of the diaphragm (arrows). (c) The liver is visible after surgical resection. (d) Sutured diaphragm after* 

*endometriosis resection. Images are used with the permission of Demetrio Larrain [49].*

Catamenial pneumothorax with a huge diaphragmatic laceration and partial intrathoracic liver herniation was reported by Bobbio et al. [43], and Makhija et al. [51] reported a patient with multiple diaphragmatic fenestrations. The largest lesion

Spontaneous rupture of the right hemidiaphragm and intrathoracic liver herniation was also reported in the literature [41]. Pneumothorax and pneumoperitoneum was detected in a patient with a history of premenstrual periscapular pain. At the edge of the diaphragmatic defect, a nodule looking like an endometrial implant was found in that patient. Histological examination of the nodule revealed endometriosis with hemosiderin-loaded macrophages. This case is considered as endometriosisrelated, but the histological criteria set by the authors was not appropriate [9, 11]. Additionally, previously mentioned cases of large diaphragmatic defects were considered to be limited diaphragmatic ruptures and stated that endometriosis was

Endometrial tissue is usually detected on histopathological examination of the spots or nodules accompanying catamenial pneumothorax so these lesions are considered to be endometrial implants. Diaphragm, visceral, and parietal pleura are the common sites for location. Pericardial implants were also reported by Fonseca et al. [52]. The lesions may be single or multiple and may have varying size. They may have different presentations in color as brown, purple, red, violet, blueberry,

**46**

Diaphragmatic and thoracic lesions may be present in all cases, but on the other hand, only one or more of them can be seen either [1–21, 39, 53, 54].

In some cases of catamenial pneumothorax, characteristic findings may be absent and blebs and bullae may be the only pathological findings. In some cases, no characteristic thoracic findings may be detected [7, 12, 20, 22–24].

Detection of characteristic lesions during thoracotomy or thoracoscopy depends on thorough and deliberate examination of the thorax, including the diaphragm. This also depends on the stage of the disease and catamenial behavior of the disease and longer-term variation [22, 24, 30, 42].
