TOPIC: Disorders of the Mediastinum TYPE: Global Case Reports INTRODUCTION: Malignant melanomas account for 1.7% all cancers. Primary malignant melanoma involving mediastinum is very rare, and has only been documented in few case reports (1-4). We describe a mediastinal primary presenting as superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome CASE PRESENTATION: A 74-year-old woman with medical history hypertensi...

An incidence of a left superior vena cava with a left azygos vein was found in a cadaver during an Osaka Dental University student's dissection practice session in 2002. The left superior vena cava began from the confluence between the right and left brachiocephalic veins, and extended directly into the left superior edge of the coronary sinus. No right superior vena cava was observed. The left...

A 50−year−old woman with primary bili− ary cirrhosis (Child±Pugh class C) was ad− mitted with esophageal variceal bleeding, and emergency endoscopic variceal scle− rotherapy (EVS) with 16 ml of 5 % ethanol− amine oleate was carried out. She had ex− perienced two episodes of variceal bleed− ing during the previous 6 months and had been treated with emergency EVS, fol− lowed by weekly elective se...

Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) is rare in childhood. 18 cases of SVCS were seen in children ranging from 3-14 years with a mean age of 8.8 years. There were 15 males and 3 female children. Diagnosis could be confirmed in 17 cases as one child succumbed to severe respiratory distress without a definitive diagnosis. The commonest cause of SVCS was lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) was mo...

The superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) comprises various symptoms due to occlusion of the SVC, which can be easily obstructed by pathological conditions (eg, lung cancer, due to the low internal venous pressure within rigid structures of the thorax [trachea, right bronchus, aorta]). The resulting increased venous pressure in the upper body may cause edema of the head, neck, and upper extremitie...

Total absence of superior vena cava (SVC) is a very rare anomaly, and the patient usually suffers from SVC syndrome or conduction disturbances. We report an asymptomatic 27 year-old male, with complete absence of SVC. Transthoracic echocardiography and computed tomography demonstrated the absence of SVC and other congenital cardiac anomalies, but the presence of prominent collateral vessels tha...

Two major topics were covered in this chapter. The first was to explore a method of establishing a rabbit model of SVCS by injecting VX2 tumor cell suspension transcutaneously under ultrasound guidance, and to observe the radiotherapeutic effects by SVC Doppler flow changes. The establishment of this model would offer an experimental evidence for better diagnosis, treatment and follow-up observ...

Figure 1 Photographs (A; case 1 and B; case 2) and illustrations of Figure 1A (C) and Figure 1B (D) showing double superior vena cava: right connected to right atrium and left to the coronary sinus. pLSVC: persistent left superior vena cava; RSVC; right superior vena cava; CS: coronary sinus; LV: left ventricle; RA: right atrium; AA ascending aorta; IVC: inferior vena cava. In both cases, the v...