A Case of Catamenial Pneumothorax Treated by Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery

This is a case of a 47-year-old female who had a medical history of right pneumothorax for the second time. The pneumothorax, accompanying the start of menstruation, recurred and the patient was hospitalized. From the medical history, a catamenial pneumothorax was suspected. As for intraoperative findings, many small fenestrations of 1 mm or 3 mm were present in the border region with the muscle bundle of the central tendon of the diaphragm. The lesion site of the diaphragm and the apex area as a biopsy were partially excised under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Although a postoperative Gn-RH agonist was started for endometriosis, it was stopped because side effects appeared. Because the right pneumothorax recurred in accordance with the start of menstruation, the treatment was changed to danazol. To date, the pneumothorax has not recurred.