A Rare Cause of Arm and Shoulder Pain in an Eight-Year-Old Girl: Pancoast's Syndrome Secondary to Lobar Pneumonia

Abstract

Dear Editor, Pancoast's syndrome consists of pain in the arm and shoulder, atrophy of hand muscles, and Homer's syndrome [1]. The initial symptom of Pancoast's syndrome generally is pain in the shoulder. In some patients, only partial characteristics could be observed. It occurs mainly in patients with a superior pulmonary sulcus tumor invading the lower brachial plexus roots and the cervicothoracic sympathetic chain. However, infectious causes of Pancoast's syndrome have been reported in the literature. Here, we report a case of Pancoast's syndrome secondary to lobar pneumonia caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae in an 8-year-old Uygur girl who developed typical pain in her arm and shoulder. An 8-year-old Uygur girl with a 5-day history of intermittent fever, 3-day of productive cough, 2-day of right shoulder and scapula pain, and dyspnea was admitted to a pediatric ward in Shufu County People's Hospital. The right shoulder pain was exacerbated while the arm is being lifted and would radiate to the right upper arm. She reported no other neurological symptoms. She could sleep only in semi-reclining position because of dyspnea at night. Physical examination was as follows: She was febrile. Body weight was 20 …