Stress fracture of the sternum -A case report

• Published in: Orthopedics & Traumatology Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 641 - 643
• Main Authors: Hayase, Masayuki, Yasumatsu, Hideo, Yoshidome, Tsuruhisa, Morimoto, Norio, Shimono, Tetsurou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West-Japanese Society of Orthopedics & Traumatology 1997
• Subjects: Bone cyst; Sternum; Stress fracture
• ISSN: 0037-1033; 1349-4333; 1349-4333
• DOI: 10.5035/nishiseisai.46.641

We report a rare case of a suspected stress fracture of the sternum. A 14 year-old male, baseball player had acute anterior chest pain after performing trunk stretching exercises. For several days he was not able to play baseball, so consulted a private orthopaedic hospital. Pathologic findings were noted on the X-p film and the doctor advised him to visit our department. X-p images and Tomogram showed a transverse fracture in the sternum, and 3-D CT showed an irregular fracture line. We also suspected a bone, cyst and planned a biopsy. However the X-p, CT, and 3-D CT findings did'nt show typical signs of a bone cyst, and there were no reports of bone cyst in the previous literature, so we diagnosed it as a stress fracture and advised him to decrease his daily activity and stop playing baseball. He progressively improved over 3 to 4 months on our conservative management and then was able to return to playing baseball. Cases with these fractures are very rare with only a few reported in the literature.