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ABSTRACT

Introduction: Primary chest wall tumors are rare and it is more common originated from bone and cartilage tissue. The clinical manifestation is nonspecific. The main complaint is the pain but generally vague and fails to characterize a specific type or location and early diagnosis is compromised.

Objective:  Evaluation of patients with thoracic wall tumors submitted to surgical treatment at a tertiary hospital for oncological care.

Methods: Retrospective study of 52 cases, between 1998 and 2013.

Results: There was a predominance of males, corresponding to 58% of the cases. The main histological types were osteosarcoma, Schwanomma and immature teratoma. Of the 52 cases, 5 of them were direct extension or metastasis of other sites that had as their first manifestation of the disease the mass of the chest wall. The main therapeutic modality was isolated surgery. The type of reconstruction most used to close the surgical defect was the first intention closure used in 25 patients, followed by the myocutaneous flap in 22 patients. The 5-year survival status of this population were 34.6% of the patients alive but alive with active disease in 13.4% of the sample.

Conclusion: Radical resection associated with reconstruction techniques allowed an increase in survival time. The priority is restoration of structural and functional integrity of the chest, work has been done to find ways of approach that combine a better chance of cure of the disease and a satisfactory quality of life for patients.