{"entity":{"id":"superior-vena-cava-obstruction","kind":"term","name":"Superior vena cava obstruction","aka":["superior vena cava syndrome","SVC obstruction","SVCO","SVC syndrome"],"tldr":"A tumour or clot blocks the large vein that returns blood from the head and arms to the heart, so the face, neck and arms swell and the veins on the chest stand out. It is frightening and looks urgent, but it is usually treatable and rarely an immediate emergency.","summary":"The superior vena cava runs through a tight space in the right side of the chest surrounded by lymph nodes, so a mediastinal mass, most often a lung cancer or a lymphoma, can compress it; a clot around an indwelling line is the other common cause. Pressure builds behind the blockage and produces facial and arm swelling, distended neck and chest wall veins, headache that is worse on bending forward, and breathlessness. NICE NG122 treats it as a problem of the underlying cancer first: it asks teams to offer chemotherapy and radiotherapy based on the stage of disease and performance status, and to consider inserting a stent for immediate relief of severe symptoms or after earlier treatment has failed. The order matters, because chemosensitive tumours such as small-cell lung cancer and lymphoma often respond fast enough that the vein reopens without a stent, while a slow-growing or already-treated tumour is better served by the stent. Getting a tissue diagnosis before treatment is usually still possible and still worth doing.","asOf":"2026-09-25","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_vena_cava_syndrome","links":[{"label":"NICE NG122: lung cancer, palliative interventions and supportive and palliative care (1.13 to 1.18)","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng122/chapter/Palliative-interventions-and-supportive-and-palliative-care"}],"tags":["lung"],"related":[],"cancers":["lung-cancer","sclc","nsclc","dlbcl","thymic-epithelial"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["mediastinum","performance-status","mediastinal-lymph-node-stations","pancoast-tumour"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Clinical"},"route":"/terms/superior-vena-cava-obstruction/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"dlbcl","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/dlbcl/"},{"id":"lung-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Lung cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/lung-cancer/"},{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"},{"id":"sclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/sclc/"},{"id":"thymic-epithelial","kind":"cancer","name":"Thymoma and thymic carcinoma","route":"/cancers/thymic-epithelial/"}],"term":[{"id":"mediastinal-lymph-node-stations","kind":"term","name":"Mediastinal lymph node stations","route":"/terms/mediastinal-lymph-node-stations/"},{"id":"mediastinum","kind":"term","name":"Mediastinum","route":"/terms/mediastinum/"},{"id":"pancoast-tumour","kind":"term","name":"Pancoast (superior sulcus) tumour","route":"/terms/pancoast-tumour/"},{"id":"performance-status","kind":"term","name":"Performance status (ECOG, Karnofsky)","route":"/terms/performance-status/"}]}}