EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL, PATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF SUPERIOR VENA CAVA SYNDROME CASES IN RADIOTHERAPY-ONCOLOGY WARD OF TABRIZ UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Abstract

Background: Superior vena cava syndrome refers to an obstruction in the superior vena cava pathway that dyspnea, facial edema, chest pain and distension of cervical and chest veins are the most common sign and symptoms of this syndrome. The present study investigates the epidemiological, clinical and pathological characteristics of the superior vena cava syndrome in the radiotherapy-oncology ward of Imam Khomeini educational center between 2003 and 2011.
Methods: The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted retrospectively. Data including demographic information, epidemiological information, early signs and symptoms, diagnostic methods and underlying pathology were collected through a checklist of archived medical records related to the radiotherapy ward of Imam Khomeini Educational Center between 2003 and 2011. All of these patients were referred to the ward with a diagnosis of superior vena cava syndrome. The frequency of causes and contribution of each of them in the development of superior vena cava syndrome were examined in SPSS-16 software.
Results: Out of 180 patients with superior vena cava syndrome, 125 were male (69.5%) and 55 were female (30.5%). The mean age of patients with this syndrome was 52.3 +18.3 years. The mean age of males was 51.76 years and the mean age of females was 54.8 years. Majority of the patients were diagnosed with bronchoscopy based on superior vena cava syndrome, and a small number of them were diagnosed based on biopsy under CT scan and chest x-ray. In general, superior vena cava syndrome was confirmed by combining clinical symptoms and para-clinical findings. The underlying disease causing superior vena cava syndrome was lung cancers in 67.74%, lymphoma cases in 22.58%, other malignancies in 3.22%, and the pathology of the disease was not identified in 6.45% of cases. Regarding the underlying pathology of lung cancer, 38.09% of cases were small cell lung cancer, 47.61% were squamous cell carcinoma and 14.28% were adenocarcinoma.
Conclusions: Most of the findings of this study, except for two cases, were consistent with the findings of other studies. These two cases were related to the rate of lymphoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which were higher than other studies.