Surgical diagnostic procedures in the diagnosis of superior vena cava syndrome

Abstract

Background.- Superior vena cava syndrome, which is easy to diagnose develops as a result of obstruction of the superior vena cava by extrinsic compression, direct invasion or thrombus. Design.- We retrospectively reviewed 10 patients in whom we detected superior vena cava syndro¬me and applied surgical procedures in order to clarify their etiologies. We performed 12 surgical procedures. The patients were all male with a me¬an age of 43,5 (16-72). The surgical procedures were; 5 mediastinoscopies, 3 thoracotomies, 2 mediastinotomies, 1 sternotomy and 1 axillary bi¬opsy. Anterior mediastinotomy was performed in two cases in addition to mediastinoscopy. Results.- The etiology was; malignancy origina¬ting from lung in 5, lymphoma in 3, and undiffe-rentiated carcinoma in 2. In the postoperative pe¬riod, we encountered complications in two pati¬ents but no mortality was detected. Conclusion.- In the superior vena cava syndrome diagnostic surgical procedures are very effective in detecting the etiology and planning an appropri¬ate oncologic treatment in malignant lesions.