A logical approach to chest wall neoplasms.

Thirty chest wall tumors were evaluated over a 3-year period at two major medical centers; a nonradical excisional biopsy technique was used. The majority of the lesions were benign; the small number of malignancies consisted of either plasmacytomas or metastatic neoplasms. These findings support a limited excisional biopsy as the recommended initial diagnostic approach for all chest wall tumors.