RESECTED CHEST WALL TUMORS IN CHILDREN: MONOCENTRIC EXPERIENCE

<bold>INTRODUCTION:</bold> Chest wall tumors in childhood and adolescence can be very heterogeneous and may appear at any agefrom infancy to late adolescence. They can be benign or malignant, secondary or primary. The aim ofthis study was to report the experience of our center and determine the profile of operated chest walltumors in children. <bold>Methods:</bold> Through a retrospective study performed from 1987 to 2022, we reported all operated children for confirmed chest wall tumors on pathological exams in the department of thoracic surgery in HabibBourguiba University Hospital. <bold>Results:</bold> Our study included 31 children diagnosed with chest wall tumors with a mean age of 9,83 years and a majority of girls (58,06%). The majority of children (71,85%) presented a chest pain secondary to the mass and 17,85% reported a chest-wall mass. Tumors were accidentally discovered in3,57% of cases and 7,14% of cases were discovered after drainage of pleural effusion. Almost 70% of the chest wall tumors occurred in the ribs, 21,73% invaded the sternum and 8,6% were located in the clavicle. Soft tissues were involved in 48,38% ofcases. Surgical procedure was essentially a tumor resection (90,32%). The most common tumors were Ewing's Sarcomas or primary neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) reported in 25.8%, followed by lymphangiomas (12.9%), and neurogenic tumors (9.67%). Post operative course was unventful for85,7% of cases and only 1 death. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Chest wall tumors are uncommon in children and infants, but a high proportion of these tumors are malignant. Cure requires successful local control with complete oncological resection sometimes associated with adjuvant treatments. The latter is particularly difficult to achieve in children presenting metastases.