Discussion
Diagnosis With Brief Discussion
- Diagnosis
- Scapulothoracic bursitis with intrabursal hemorrhage
- Radiologic Findings
- Chest CT scan shows well demarcated cystic mass located between the serratus anterior muscle and scapular angle.
MRI reveals a large cystic mass with intracystic hemorrhage at the inferior angle of the right scapula.
- Brief Review
- Scapulothoracic bursitis is an uncommon disease. It usually appears as a growing mass at the scapulothoracic interface. Histopathologically, it is characterized by the presence of a thickened fibrotic cystic wall with a synovial inner lining and a capillary proliferation. Huang et al (1) have reported sonographic features of a case of scapulothoracic bursitis with pathologic correlation. Higuchi et al (2) have reported 9 cases of painless, distended scapulothoracic bursitis with intrabursal hemorrhage mimicking tumors, and these pseudotumoral lesions regressed spontaneously. Scapulothoracic bursitis may occur alone, or it may associate with some other diseases such as osteochondroma, scapular or rib incongruence, overuse syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic sclerosis. On computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scapulothoracic bursitis typically is seen as a well-demarcated cystic mass situated between the serratus anterior muscle and the thoracic rib cage along the lateral chest wall.
Conservative treatments such as rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, and intracystic injection of a long-acting corticosteroid, are highly effective in most cases of scapulothoracic bursitis. Surgical resection could be applied for coexistent osseous lesions or when conservative treatment has failed.
- References
- 1. Huang, C.C., Ko, S.F., Ng, S.H., et al. Scapulothoracic bursitis of the chest wall. Sonographic features with pathologic correlation. J Ultrasound Med 2005; 24:1437-1440
2. Higuchi T, Ogose A, Hotta T, et al. Clinical and imaging features of distended scapulothoracic bursitis: spontaneously regressed pseudotumoral lesion. J Comput Assist Tomogr 2004; 28:223
- Keywords
- chest wall, non-infectious inflammation,