Malignant tumor with chest wall pain mimicking Tietze's syndrome

Chest pain is commonly caused by musculoskeletal chest wall disorders. Tiet ze's syndrome is a relatively rare cause of chest wall pain characterised b y non-suppurative, painful swelling of the upper costal cartilages. The dia gnosis should be based on these classic clinical features after excluding o ther potential causes of pain. A patient who was diagnosed with Tietze's sy ndrome but was found to have squamous cell carcinoma of the mediastinum wit h unknown primary site invading the sternum and anterior chest wall is pres ented for discussion.