Summary
Tietze's syndrome is characterized by pain due to a self-limiting, localized, non-suppurative swelling of the costochondral or sternoclavicular junction of unknown etiology. The case of a woman is presented here who was submitted to the hospital under the suspicion of a pathological fracture. After extensive investigations the diagnosis of Tietze's syndrome was made by exclusion, and the patient was successfully treated with local injection of an anaesthetic. Possible differential diagnoses of Tietze's syndrome include myocardial infarction, pneumonia, and others. This report emphasizes the importance of a thorough clinical investigation and the need for the exclusion of severe and lifethreatening diseases.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Burch GE, DePasquale NP (1964) Tietze's disease. Geriatrics 19:61–66
Calabro JJ (1977) Costochondritis. N Engl J Med 296:946–947
Calabro JJ, Jeghers H, Miller KA, Gordon RD (1980) Classification of anterior chest wall syndromes. JAMA 243:1420–1421
Cameron HU, Fornasier VL (1974) Tietze's disease. J clin Path 27:960–962
Edelstein G, Levitt RG, Slaker DP, Murphy WA (1984) Computed tomography of Tietze's syndrome. J Comput Assist Tomogr 8:20–23
Fam AG, Smythe HA (1985) Muskuloskeletal chest wall pain. Can Med Assoc J 133:379–389
Gupta SK, Chatterjee S (1984) Tietze's syndrome. J Indian M A 82:397–399
Häckel H (1971) Das Tietze-Syndrom ein differential-diagnostisches Problem. MMW 13:47–49
Härkönen M (1977) Tietze's syndrome. BMJ 2:1087–1088
Hamburg C, Abdelwahab IF (1987) Reliability of computed tomography in the initial diagnosis and follow-up evaluation of Tietze's syndrome: Case report with review of the literature. J Comput Assist Tomogr 11:83–87
Jelenko C, Cowan GSM (1977) Perichondritis (Tietze's syndrome) at the xiphisternal joint: A mimic of severe disease. JACEP 6:536–542
Jelenko C (1979) Tietze's disease predates ‘chest wall syndrome’. JAMA 242:2556
Jones GE, Evans PA (1980) Treatment of Tietze's syndrome pain through paced respiration. Biofeedback Self-Regul 5:295–303
Kayser HL (1956) Tietze's syndrome. Am J Med 21:982–989
Levey GS, Calabro J (1962) Tietze's syndrome: Report of two cases and review of the literature. Arch Rheum 5:261–269
McKean CWF (1977) Tietze's syndrome. BMJ 2:1417
Miller JH (1980) Accumulation of gallium-67 in costochondritis. Clin Nucl Med 5:362–363
Motulsky A, Rohn RJ (1953) Tietze's syndrome: Cause of chest pain and chest wall swelling. JAMA 152:504–506
Peyton FW (1983) Unexpected frequency of idiopathic costochondral pain. Obstetrics Gynecol 62:605–608
Pye JK, Mansel RE, Hughes LE (1985) Clinical experience of drug treatment for mastalgia. Lancet 2:373–377
Ricevuti G (1985) Effects of human calcitonin on pain in the treatment of Tietze's syndrome. Clin Therapeu 7:669–673
Sain AK (1985) Bone scan in Tietze's syndrome. Clin Nucl Med 3:470–471
Scobie BA (1976) Costochondral pain in gastroenterologic practice. N Engl J Med 295:1261
Talucci RC, Webb WR (1983) Costal chondritis: The costal arch. Ann Thorac Surg 35:318–321
Tietze A (1921) Über eine eigenartige Häufung von Fällen mit Dystrophie der Rippenknorpel. Klin Wochenschr 58:829–831
Verdickt W, Dequeker J (1984) Tietze's syndrome: A clinical retrospective study. Acta Clin Belg 39:13–17
Wiedermann HR (1972) Tietze-Syndrom (Chondroosteopathie costalis tuberosa) im frühen Kindesalter. Helv paediat Acta 27:25–32
Wolf E, Stern S (1976) Costosternal Syndrome — Its frequency and importance in differential diagnosis of coronary heart disease. Arch Intern Med 136:189–191
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boehme, M.W.J., Scherbaum, W.A. & Pfeiffer, E.F. Tietze's syndrome — a chameleon under the thoracic abdominal pain syndroms. Klin Wochenschr 66, 1142–1145 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01727851
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01727851