Objective: Superior vena cava syndrome [SVCS] is a disease, which has high morbidity and mortality. The aim of the present study is to evaluate clinical presentation, treatment outcome, and prognostic factors of SVCS patients.
Materials and Methods: The present study is a retrospective study. 81 patients with new diagnosis of SVCS using clinical
diagnosis in Srinagarind University Hospital were enrolled during January 2001 to December 2010. Clinical data and
treatment outcome were analysed by using uni- and stepwise multivariate analysis.
Results: There were 81 SVCS patients were included and, 79.01% were male. The mean age of patients was 52.72+16.4 years. The most common first clinical presentation of SVCS patients was swelling on the face and upper arm (77.78%). The majority cause of SVCS was mediastinal mass with unknown pathology (30.86%), followed by bronchogenic carcinoma (18.52%) and SVC thrombosis (13.58%). The most common treatment modality was combined therapy (corticosteroid and radiotherapy) (43.21%). There were 59.26% of all patients, who had good response of treatment. Median overall survival time of SVCS patients was 2.2 (95% CI, 1.18 to 3.21) months. Results analysed by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis showed that receiving treatment (p = 0.10) trended to be a good prognostic factor.
Conclusion: SVCS is the critical disease leading to short survival time. Early diagnosis, receiving treatment will provide good prognosis.

Keywords: SVCS, Superior vena cava syndrome, Clinical presentation, Treatment outcome, Prognostic factors