Superior Vena Cava syndrome (SVC) may be the first presentation of a cancer and therefore not suspected. The most common symptoms are facial edema, distended neck and/or chest veins, cough and dyspnea. Acute life-threatening symptoms such as airway obstruction from laryngeal edema, cerebral edema, hypotension and coma are possible, but fortunately rare. Over 60% of SVC syndromes are malignant in etiology, with 85% of those due to either lung cancer or lymphoma.
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