[Surgery for the chest wall tuberculous abscess; report of a case].

The patient was a 70-year-old woman who visited our hospital due to right chest pain. Chest computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an abscess in the chest wall which was diagnosed as tuberculous abscess by a bacterial examination of needle aspiration. In spite of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy, the abscess was ruptured on day 15 after starting treatment, and a radical resection of the abscess was performed after 10-days conservative treatment. Skin over the abscess and a part of right 7th and 8th rib were also resected. Postoperative anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy was added and no relapse was seen for 40 months postsurgery.