The risk of spontaneous pneumothorax in patients with osteogenic sarcoma and testicular cancer

Seven cases of unilateral, spontaneous pneumothorax were found in a retrospective study of 63 patients with osteogenic sarcoma who were admitted to The Norwegian Radium Hospital (NRH) in the period 1970--1977. The relative risk of pneumothorax developing doubled, from 7--14%, after the introduction of chemotherapy for this disease at NRH. This difference was not statistically significant. Pneumothorax developed in two of 18 patients (11%) with lung metastases who never received chemotherapy. Pneumothorax occurred in four of 19 patients (21%) treated with chemotherapy for manifest lung metastases, and in one of eight patients (13%) who received adjuvant chemotherapy, but in whom lung metastases developed later. Pneumothorax did not develop in 79 patients treated with chemotherapy for disseminated testicular cancer, despite the fact that 82% of these patients had manifest lung metastases.