Bilateral Eyelid Edema – a Subtle Presentation of Superior Vena Cava Syndrome

Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) is an important clinical entity that manifests secondary to compression of the superior vena cava (SVC) from an intrathoracic malignancy. Although it has an incidence of about 15,000 cases per year in the United States, it only occurs in about 2-4% of all lung cancer patients. We present a rare case of a Caucasian female who was repeatedly evaluated for bilateral upper eyelid edema, with an eventual diagnosis with SVCS secondary to lung adenocarcinoma.