Superior vena cava syndrome

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Superior vena cava syndrome
Classification & external resources
ICD-10 I87.1
ICD-9 459.2
DiseasesDB 12711
MedlinePlus 001097
eMedicine emerg/561 
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Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) is a result of obstruction of the superior vena cava. It is a medical emergency and requires immediate diagnosis and treatment.

Contents

[edit] Signs and symptoms

Signs and symptoms include: facial and arm edema, fullness feeling in the head, dyspnea, tachypnea, difficulty swallowing, venous distension, cyanosis

  • Orthopnea
  • Nasal stuffiness
  • light-headedness

SVCS can cause - venous distension, airway obstruction, decrease cardiac filling and output, and increase likelihood of cerebral edema

Superior vena cava syndrome usually presents more gradually, with an increase in symptoms over time. [1]

[edit] Etiology

Approximately 90% of cases are associated with a cancerous tumor that is compressing the superior vena cava. Syphilis and tuberculosis have also been known to cause superior vena cava syndrome. For more information on infectious causes of superior vena cava syndrome, see the syphilis and tuberculosis (if there isn't a section to superior vena cava syndrome there already, it'll be added sooner or later).

It can be caused by invasion or compression by a pathological process or by thrombosis in the vein itself.

Before antibiotics, untreated infections were the most common cause of SVCS. Now malignacies (in particular, lung cancer) cause most SVCS's.

Common cancers that cause SVCS includes: Bronchogenic carcinomas including small cell and non-small cell lung carcinoma, Burkitt lymphoma, lymphoblastic lymphomas, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (rare), and other acute leukemia

[edit] Prognosis

Without treatment, most patients are dead within a month, and even with treatment, 90% die within two and a half years. This relates to the cancerous causes of SVC that are 90% of the cases.

The average age of onset of disease is 54 years of age.

[edit] Diagnosis

An x-ray usually shows a mediastinal mass (tumor) that is compressing the superior vena cava.

Diagnosis : chest x ray, ct scan of head and neck, tissue biopsy,and venography

[edit] Treatment

modalities include:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beeson MS. Superior Vena Cava Syndrome. eMedicine.com. Available at: http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic561.htm. Accessed on: December 21, 2006.

[edit] External links

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