• Deog Gon Cho, Yong Jin Chang, Kyu Do Cho, and Jae Taek Hong.
• Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 93 Jungbu-daero, Paldal-Gu, Suwon, Gyenggi-Do, 442-723, Republic of Korea. ebstein8@daum.net.
• J Cardiothorac Surg. 2015 Nov 10; 10: 161.

BackgroundAn intrathoracic meningocele is a relatively rare disease, and it commonly accompanies neurofibromatosis type 1. Patients tend to have no symptom but if its size is too large and compresses a lung and neighboring organs, it needs shunt drainage or surgical resection.Case PresentationHerein, we present the case of a 52 year-old female patient with huge intrathoracic meningoceles associated with neurofibromatosis type 1, who has complained about chest discomfort and dyspnea at rest. As for a preliminary treatment, a neurosurgeon had performed a cystoperitoneal shunt, but the symptoms continued and the size of mass and the amount of pleural effusion did not change significantly. Therefore, the huge thoracic meningoceles were successfully treated through the thoracotomic approach in combination with lumbar puncture and cerebrospinal fluid drainage.ConclusionsIt is reported that double huge intrathoracic meningoceles associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 was successfully treated by a shunting procedure followed by thoracotomic resection with collaboration of a neurosurgeon.

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