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The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2000 June;41(3):499-501

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Superior vena cava syndrome caused by invasive epidermoid carcinoma

Halkic N., Henchoz L., Gintzburger D., Nordback P., Ksontini R., Boumghar M.

From the Service de Chirurgie CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland

Lung can­cer is the ­most fre­quent ­cause of super­i­or ­vena ­cava (SVC) syn­drome. Malignant SVC syn­drome is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered a con­tra­in­di­ca­tion to cura­tive resec­tion, ­although pal­li­a­tive bypass­es are ­done for symp­toms ­that do not ­respond to med­i­cal ther­a­py. However, a major­ity of ­patients ­with ­such ­advanced dis­ease die of com­pli­ca­tions ­caused by the pri­mary ­tumor rath­er ­than dis­tant metas­ta­sis. We ­present the ­case of one ­patient ­with ­lung can­cer invad­ing the med­i­as­ti­nal struc­tures. Combined resec­tion and re­place­ment of the SVC ­with a seg­ment of Dacron vas­cu­lar ­graft was per­formed. Postoperative sur­vi­val ­time was 24 ­months.