Patient with respiratory distress, facial oedema and refractory hypokalaemia

Abstract

Small cell lung carcinoma, when associated with co-occurrence of complications such as paraneoplastic syndrome and superior vena cava syndrome, poses a greater management challenge to the clinical team. We report a 56-year-old man who was eventually diagnosed with stage III small cell lung carcinoma, presenting with respiratory distress, facial and upper body oedema, proximal muscle weakness, hypokalaemia, new-onset hypertension and hyperglycaemia. His medical management was complicated by associated superior vena cava syndrome and Cushing’s syndrome leading to refractory hypokalemia, immunosuppression and depression. Although the patient improved clinically and biochemically with the chemotherapy and other treatments, the development of neutropenic pneumonia led to his demise. This case highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to achieve better patient care and the need for good clinical vigilance to identify possible humoral manifestations of aggressive malignancies such as small cell carcinoma of the lung to assist their early detection.