Case 56-1963

Presentation of Case A thirty-year-old truck driver was admitted to the hospital because of pain in the chest. The patient had been well until eight months previously, when he experienced an attack of dyspnea while driving his truck. He was told that an electrocardiogram taken at that time was abnormal and that a subsequent radiologic examination revealed a normal heart and a "growth on a bone in the chest." Two days before admission right-sided pleuritic pain suddenly developed, without cough, sputum, hemoptysis or dyspnea. He smoked 1 or 2 packs of cigarettes daily and occasionally drank beer. Physical examination disclosed . . .