TY - JOUR T1 - A rare cause of superior vena cava syndrome JF - BMJ Case Reports DO - 10.1136/bcr-2013-008904 VL - 2013 SP - bcr2013008904 AU - Aram Barbaryan AU - Alaa M Ali AU - Nasir Hussain AU - Aibek E Mirrakhimov Y1 - 2013/03/25 UR - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2013/bcr-2013-008904.abstract N2 - A 67-year-old African-American woman presented to the hospital with a several months' history of bilateral breast swelling, shortness of breath, voice hoarseness, head fullness and facial swelling. On physical examination, the patient was found to have engorged chest wall veins, bilateral arm and breast oedema and fullness of supraclavicular areas. Vital signs were normal and initial blood tests including complete blood account, complete metabolic profile did not reveal any abnormality. Her medical history was significant for hepatitis C virus infection, stroke and hypertension. Chest x-ray was normal and CT of the chest with contrast showed chronic superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction with multiple chest wall lateral vessels consistent with chronic thrombus/fibrosis (figures 1 and 2, respectively). There were no lymphadenopathy and lung was free of infiltrate and consolidation. Figure 1 CT … ER -