Primary Apical Lung Cancer Producing the Symptomatology of a Superior Pulmonary Sulcus Tumor

Abstract

MALIGNANT tumors of the pulmonary apex and thoracic inlet have been studied intensively within the last five years. Opportunity to examine autopsy material from a case with the symptomatology, clinical and roentgenographic findings of superior pulmonary sulcus tumor confirms the belief that this tumor arose from the mucosa of the terminal bronchioles in the apex of the lung. The clinical features of this condition are entirely different from those of carcinoma arising in a large bronchus of the upper lobe, probably because of location and mode of spread. Case Report A steel worker, 46 years of age, white, was admitted to the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, March 8, 1937, complaining of cough, hemoptysis, and pain in the right upper chest and arm. His health had been good until six years previously, at which time he suffered a “nervous breakdown.” While working in a mill he fainted and was carried home, where he remained for six weeks. He was told he had low blood pressure but was permitted to return to wor...