Approach to chest wall masses: Analysis of a single-center outcomes

Aims: The chest wall has a heterogeneous structure consisting of bone, cartilage, and soft tissue. Due to its complexity, many pathologies may present as chest wall masses. The present study aimed to analyze the data of patients with a chest wall mass, who were admitted to a tertiary center. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of patients with a chest wall mass, who were admitted between January 2003 and December 2019. The data related to age, gender, chief complaints on admission, tumor localization, requirement of surgical treatment, length of hospital stay, histopathological diagnosis, recurrence, morbidities and mortality were recorded. Results: The total sample included 185 patients [mean age (range): 37.6 years (12 to 88), male gender: 144 (77.8%)]. The mean length of hospitalization was 6.62 days (1-35). The most common complaints on admission were a palpable mass (n=60, 32.4%), pain (n=59, 31.9%), and pain and a palpable mass (n=36, 19.4%). Surgery was required in 166 (89.8%) patients. More than one surgery was performed in 8 (4.8%) patients. There were 118 (71%) benign and 48 (29%) malignant histopathologic results. The most common primary chest wall malignancies were chondrosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma. Conclusions: The majority of patients with a chest wall mass underwent surgery in this 16-year dataset. Chondrosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma were the most common primary malignancies. While most were benign tumors, a secondary intervention was required in a small percentage of patients. Keywords: Chest wall, reconstruction primary tumor, metastatic tumor, resection