Unilateral hyperhidrosis associated with underlying intrathoracic neoplasia

Our plain-English summary of Unilateral hyperhidrosis associated with underlying intrathoracic neoplasia, by D.C. Lindsay, J.G. Freeman, C.O. Record (Thorax, 1986).

The study

• Authors: D.C. Lindsay, J.G. Freeman, C.O. Record
• Journal: Thorax
• Published: 1986;41(10):814-5
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 13 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

The authors reported two patients at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, in whom localised sweating on one side of the chest wall was associated with an intrathoracic tumour. The first, a 67-year-old retired shotblaster who smoked, had weight loss, mild breathlessness, right-sided chest pain and profuse sweating in a band at T6-9. A chest radiograph showed a large right pleural effusion, and pleural biopsy showed poorly differentiated carcinoma. The sweating continued for six months. He developed intra-abdominal metastases and died at home without necropsy. The second, a 58-year-old engineering foreman who smoked and had had a brief exposure to asbestos, had left chest ache, 12 kg weight loss and a large pleural effusion. Initial investigations, including pleural biopsy, were unhelpful. Six months later a band of sweating developed at T5-8 on the left, and left pleural mesothelioma was diagnosed clinically. He died four months later. Necropsy showed the left lung encased by mesothelioma invading the chest wall, with no metastases in the brain or spinal cord. The authors noted that nine cases with primary tumours, including one mesothelioma, and one with metastases had been reported since 1976. They discussed possible mechanisms, including irritation of nerves by tumour. They concluded that unilateral hyperhidrosis is usually a sign of advanced tumour spread and carries a poor prognosis.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This article reported two patients who developed profuse sweating in a band on one side of the chest (unilateral hyperhidrosis) alongside cancer inside the chest. The first, a 67-year-old retired shotblaster who smoked, had right-sided sweating, a large right pleural effusion, and a pleural biopsy showing poorly differentiated carcinoma. The sweating continued for a further six months. He died at home and no post-mortem was done. The second, a 58-year-old engineering foreman who smoked and had had a brief exposure to asbestos, had a large pleural effusion. Early tests were unhelpful. Six months later he developed a band of sweating on the left side of his chest, and left pleural mesothelioma was suspected. He died four months later. Post-mortem examination found mesothelioma encasing the left lung and invading the chest wall, with metastases in the right chest and abdomen but none in the brain or spinal cord. The article described the asbestos exposure only as brief and gave no further details, such as its source, timing or fiber type. The authors concluded that such sweating is usually a sign of advanced tumour spread and carries a poor prognosis.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: case report of two patients
• Who was studied: Two men seen at the Department of Medicine, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne: a 67-year-old retired shotblaster who smoked 15 cigarettes per day (case 1), and a 58-year-old engineering foreman with Crohn's disease since 1974 who smoked 30 cigarettes a day (case 2)
• Exposure: Case 2 had had a brief exposure to asbestos. No fiber type, source, timing or duration was given. No asbestos exposure was mentioned for case 1. Both men smoked.
• Main results:
  • Case 1 had a right-sided band of sweating at the level of T6-9 on the back.
  • In case 1, pleural fluid showed no malignant cells, but a pleural biopsy showed poorly differentiated carcinoma.
  • In case 1, the sweating continued for a further six months. The patient developed intra-abdominal metastases and recurrent effusions and died at home without necropsy.
  • In case 2, sputum and pleural fluid analysis and a pleural biopsy were unhelpful.
  • Six months later, case 2 developed a band of profuse sweating at T5-8 on the left chest. Repeat examination suggested left pleural mesothelioma.
  • In case 2, the sweating continued until death four months later.
  • At necropsy in case 2, the left lung was totally encased by mesothelioma, which had invaded the chest wall. There were metastatic plaques in the right hemithorax and abdominal cavity, but no metastases in the brain or spinal cord.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors described the association between unilateral hyperhidrosis and intrathoracic neoplasm as rare. They concluded it is usually a sign of advanced tumour spread and carries a poor prognosis.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Intrathoracic, Chest X-Ray, Pleural Effusion, Pleural Biopsy, Carcinoma, Autopsy, Pleural Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma.

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