[Tuberculosis of the thoracic wall. Presentation of 4 personal cases and review of the literature]. / La tuberculose de la paroi thoracique. Mise au point à partir de 4 observations personnelles et d'une revue de la littérature.

The thoracic wall is an uncommon localization for tuberculosis, accounting for an estimated 1 to 5% of all cases of bone and joint tuberculosis which themselves account for 15% of all extrapulmonary localizations. Four patients were hospitalized for tuberculosis of the thoracic wall. The first patient, aged 22 years, had sternal tuberculosis with multiple bone localizations. The second patient was 37 years old and had a cold abscess of the peristernal soft tissues with several other bone localizations devoid of clinical manifestations. A third 37-year-old patient had a cold intercostal abscess revealed by a mass in the upper left quadrant of the left breast. In the last patient, 50 years old, tuberculosis of the ribs was associated with a cold tumor of the knee. Together with cases reported in the literature, these observations demonstrate the difficult diagnostic situation presented by tuberculosis of the thoracic wall. Treatment is based on long-duration multi-drug therapy. Surgical resection is rarely indicated. Cure was achieved in our four cases.