• Paul C Johannesma, Ben E E M van den Borne, Johannes J P Gille, Ad F Nagelkerke, JanHein T M van Waesberghe, Marinus A Paul, R Jeroen A van Moorselaar, Fred H Menko, and Pieter E Postmus.
• Department of Pulmonary Diseases, VU University Medical Center, PO Box 7057, 1007, MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. pe.postmus@vumc.nl.
• Bmc Pediatr. 2014 Jan 1; 14: 171.

BackgroundBirt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD) is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited disorder caused by germline mutations in the folliculin (FLCN) gene. Clinical manifestations of BHD include skin fibrofolliculomas, renal cell cancer, lung cysts and (recurrent) spontaneous pneumothorax (SP). All clinical manifestations usually present in adults > 20 years of age.Case PresentationsTwo non-related patients with (recurrent) pneumothorax starting at age 14 accompanied by multiple basal lung cysts on thoracic CT underwent FLCN germline mutation analysis. A pathogenic FLCN mutation was found in both patients confirming suspected BHD. The family history was negative for spontaneous pneumothorax in both families.ConclusionAlthough childhood occurrence of SP in BHD is rare, these two cases illustrate that BHD should be considered as cause of SP in children.

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