[Rare complication of COPD: spontaneous thoracic wall lung hernia].

A case of spontaneous thoracic (intercostal) lung herniation originating from a chronic obstructive pulmonary syndrome (COPD) is presented. The authors present the classification, the clinical aspects and the patho-anatomic features of hernia along with the steps of diagnostic procedures. They discuss the potential pathomechanism of intercostal muscle disruption and the attached literature of this disease. The thoracic wall herniation was detected via a chest radiograph and confirmed by CT-imaging with the help of a special "3D" reconstruction-method. The knowledge of rare lung herniation is important because of the huge increase in the number of COPD-cases in our country recently.