Case report

An unusual cause of chest pain:case report

Ashok Subramanian¹ , Hilary Birch² and Adam Stacey-Clear¹

¹  Department of General Surgery, East Surrey Hospital, Canada Avenue, Redhill, Surrey, UK

²  Department of Histopathology, East Surrey Hospital, Canada Avenue, Redhill, Surrey, UK

author email corresponding author email

International Seminars in Surgical Oncology 2007, 4:11doi:10.1186/1477-7800-4-11

Published:	3 May 2007

Abstract

Background

Sarcomas form a heterogenous group of relatively uncommon malignant tumours which are derived from connective tissue components. In total they comprise approximately 1% of all new cancers diagnosed per year in the United Kingdom (UK). As subset of this, the 'Unclassified' Sarcoma forms approximately 4% of the total [1]. They often present with as relatively slow growing, asymptomatic masses and as such may often be misdiagnosed as in this case.

Case presentation

A 52 year old man presented to his general practitioner (GP) with left sided chest pain. A strong family history of ischaemic heart disease prompted hospital referral and further investigations which all proved negative for coronary artery disease. Following weight loss and ongoing chest pain, he represented to his GP with a hard mass arising from the left pectoralis major muscle at the site of the previous pain. Surgical excision followed by later compartectomy revealed an unclassified low grade Sarcoma with lymphoma like features.

Conclusion

In this case, chest pain masquerading as ischaemia, may have been caused by peri-neural infiltration or compression of adjacent muscle bulk by tumour, with eventual surgical resection providing a good long term prognosis.