The Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome is associated with cutaneous disorders including fibrofolliculomas and trichodiscomas, and also lung pneumatocysts and kidney tumours. The BHD syndrome occurs as a consequence of an autosomal dominantly inherited genodermatosis, linked to multiple germline mutations in the 14 exons of the BHD gene, mapped on 17p11.2 and encoding for folliculin (FLCN). The size and number of lung pneumatocysts are extremely variable and the cysts are surrounded by normal pulmonary tissue. In the absence of smoking lung function is usually unimpaired. The lung cysts are frequently complicated by the development of recurrent pneumothoraces. Treatment of pneumothorax in patients with the BHD syndrome is similar to the approach taken for patients with spontaneous pneumothorax. Lung cysts in the BHD syndrome are a rare cause of cystic pulmonary lesions. However, they must be systematically evaluated since kidney tumours occur in one third of patients. We report a case of classical BHD syndrome with specific cutaneous involvement, recurrent pneumothoraces complicating lung cysts, an exon 12 germline mutation on BHD gene and a familial history suggesting other related cases. This observation allows us to update this orphan disease, to consider BHD in the differential diagnosis of lung cysts and, above all, to highlight the high frequency and the prognostic significance of associated kidney tumours.
Copyright © 2011 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.