Case description

A 33-year-old Caucasian male smoker presented to our rapid access lung cancer clinic with a single episode of moderate haemoptysis and no other respiratory or systemic symptoms. There was no relevant past medical history. As an adopted child he was unaware of any significant family history. The only finding on clinical examination was decreased air entry on the right side. Laboratory tests were all normal. Chest x-ray demonstrated a small right hemithorax with marked mediastinal displacement to the right, increased soft tissue opacity adjacent to the right side of the mediastinum causing widening of the right paratracheal stripe and loss of silhouette of the right heart border, and increased interstitial opacity throughout the right lung (figure 1A). A CT scan of the thorax confirmed the presence of a large amount of abnormal low attenuation soft tissue around the right side of the mediastinum, which also involved the azygo-oesophageal space causing considerable thickening of the oesophageal wall (figure 1B), a …