Open AccessChest wall swelling: unusual presentation of an aggressive mediastinal tumour
Author(s) -
Abdul Majid Wani,
Waleed Mohd Hussain,
Mohamad Ibrahim Fatani,
Ahmad Qadmani,
Mohannad Hemdi,
Sadia Hanif,
Mubeena Akhtar,
Mazen G Bafaraj
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
bmj case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.231
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1757-790X
DOI - 10.1136/bcr.05.2009.1890
Subject(s) - medicine , pericardium , chest pain , stridor , lymphoma , radiology , palpitations , mediastinum , superior vena cava syndrome , presentation (obstetrics) , histopathology , surgery , superior vena cava , pathology , airway
The majority of patients with primary mediastinal lymphoma are symptomatic at the time of diagnosis and commonly have fever, weight loss and/or night sweats. Symptoms due to compression of adjacent mediastinal structures are infrequent, but may include pain, dyspnoea, stridor, or superior vena cava syndrome. Local infiltration into the chest wall, pleura and pericardium is not uncommon.In the present report, two interesting cases of chest wall swellings that in fact were extensions of primary mediastinal lymphoma are given. Histopathology of the tumour was large B cell lymphoma (CD20+). The first case was in a 23-year-old woman, with dramatic onset but a good outcome. The second was in a 34-year-old Pakistani woman, with insidious onset and poor outcome due to extent and invasion by the tumour. Interesting CT images are presented showing chest wall and left supraclavicular swelling.