Patients usually present with otorrhea, conductive hearing loss, and otalgia, while bleeding and a sensation of a mass are much less common.

An otic polyp (also called aural polyp) is a benign proliferation of chronic inflammatory cells associated with granulation tissue, in response to a longstanding inflammatory process of the middle ear.

The Ewing family of tumors is a group of cancers that includes Ewing tumor of bone (ETB or Ewing sarcoma of bone), extraosseous Ewing tumors (EOE tumors), primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET or peripheral neuroepithelioma), and Askin tumors (PNET of the chest wall). These tumors all come from the same type of stem cell. Also called EFTs.

Shortness of breath is the most common symptom, followed by face or arm swelling.

Following are frequent symptoms:

- Difficulty breathing

- Headache

- Facial swelling

- Venous distention in the neck and distended veins in the upper chest and arms

- Upper limb edema

- Lightheadedness

- Cough

- Edema (swelling) of the neck, called the "collar of Stokes"

- Pemberton's sign

Superior vena cava syndrome usually presents more gradually with an increase in symptoms over time as malignancies increase in size or invasiveness.

Clinical factors predicting the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusions are symptoms lasting more than 1 month and the absence of fever.

Unlike benign germ cell tumors of the mediastinum, malignant mediastinal tumors are usually symptomatic at the time of diagnosis. Most mediastinal malignant tumors are large and cause symptoms by compressing or invading adjacent structures, including the lungs, pleura, pericardium, and chest wall.

Seminomas grow relatively slowly and can become very large before causing symptoms. Tumors 20 to 30 cm in diameter can exist with minimal symptomatology.

The defining symptom of pleurisy is a sudden sharp, stabbing, burning or dull pain in the right or left side of the chest during breathing, especially when one inhales and exhales. It feels worse with deep breathing, coughing, sneezing, or laughing. The pain may stay in one place, or it may spread to the shoulder or back. Sometimes, it becomes a fairly constant dull ache.

Depending on its cause, pleuritic chest pain may be accompanied by other symptoms:

- Dry cough

- Fever and chills

- Rapid, shallow breathing

- Shortness of breath

- Fast heart rate

- Sore throat followed by pain and swelling in the joints

Mediastinal germ cell tumors are tumors that derive from germ cell rest remnants in the mediastinum. They most commonly occur in the gonad but occasionally elsewhere.

Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS), is a group of symptoms caused by obstruction of the superior vena cava (a short, wide vessel carrying circulating blood into the heart). More than 90% of cases of superior vena cava obstruction (SVCO) are caused by cancer - most commonly bronchogenic carcinoma, typically a tumor outside the vessel compressing the vessel wall. It can also be caused by compression from an aortic aneurism or it can sometimes have a benign cause. Characteristic features are edema (swelling due to excess fluid) of the face and arms and development of swollen collateral veins on the front of the chest wall. Shortness of breath and coughing are quite common symptoms; difficulty swallowing is reported in 11% of cases, headache in 6% and stridor (a high-pitched wheeze) in 4%. The condition is rarely life-threatening, though edema of the epiglottis can make breathing difficult, and edema of the brain can cause reduced alertness, and in less than 5% of cases of SVCO, severe neurological symptoms or airway compromise are reported.

The mediastinum (from Medieval Latin "mediastinus", "midway") is the central compartment of the thoracic cavity surrounded by loose connective tissue, as an undelineated region that contains a group of structures within the thorax. The mediastinum contains the heart and its vessels, the esophagus, trachea, phrenic and cardiac nerves, the thoracic duct, thymus and lymph nodes of the central chest.

For SPB the most common presenting symptom is that of pain in the affected bone. Back pain and other consequences of the bone lesion may occur such as spinal cord compression or pathological fracture. Around 85% of extramedullary plasmacytoma presents within the upper respiratory tract mucosa, causing possible symptoms such as epistaxis, rhinorrhoea and nasal obstruction. In some tissues it may be found as a palpable mass.

Fibrothorax is diffuse fibrosis of the pleural space surrounding the lungs. It can have several causes including hemothorax, pleural effusion and tuberculosis. It may also be induced by exposure to certain substances, as with asbestos-induced diffuse pleural fibrosis. Idiopathic fibrothorax may also occur.

In fibrothorax, scar tissue is formed around the visceral pleura following inflammation due to pleural effusion or other pathology. The scar tissue lies in a sheet between the pleura, then fuses with the parietal pleura and the chest wall. Over time, generally the course of years, the fibrotic scar tissue slowly tightens, which results in the contraction of the entire hemithorax, and leaves the ribs immobilized. Within the chest, the lung is compressed and unable to expand, making it vulnerable to collapse. At the microscopic level, the scar tissue is composed of collagen fibers deposited in a basket weave pattern. The treatment for fibrothorax is decortication, the surgical removal of the fibrous layer of scar tissue. However, since many of the diseases and conditions resulting in fibrothorax are treatable, prevention remains the preferred method of managing fibrothorax.

Symptoms may occur at any time, but most often they accompany a change of body position. Pedunculated myxomas can have a "wrecking ball effect", as they lead to stasis and may eventually embolize themselves. Symptoms may include:

- Shortness of breath with activity

- Platypnea – Difficulty breathing in the upright position with relief in the supine position

- Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea – Breathing difficulty when asleep

- Dizziness

- Fainting

- Palpitations – Sensation of feeling your heart beat

- Chest pain or tightness

- Sudden Death (In which case the disease is an autopsy finding)

The symptoms and signs of left atrial myxomas often mimic mitral stenosis.

General symptoms may also be present, such as:

- Cough

- Pulmonary edema, as blood backs up into the pulmonary artery, after increased pressures in the left atrium and atrial dilation

- Hemoptysis

- Fever

- Cachexia – Involuntary weight loss

- General discomfort (malaise)

- Joint pain

- Blue discoloration of the skin, especially the fingers (Raynaud's phenomenon)

- Fingers that change color upon pressure or with cold or stress

- Clubbing – Curvature of nails accompanied with soft tissue enlargement of the fingers

- Swelling – any part of the body

- Presystolic heart murmur

These general symptoms may also mimic those of infective endocarditis.

"Widened mediastinum/mediastinal widening" is where the mediastinum has a width greater than 6 cm on an upright PA chest X-ray or 8 cm on supine AP chest film.

A widened mediastinum can be indicative of several pathologies:

- aortic aneurysm

- aortic dissection

- aortic unfolding

- aortic rupture

- hilar lymphadenopathy

- anthrax inhalation - a widened mediastinum was found in 7 of the first 10 victims infected by anthrax ("Bacillus anthracis") in 2001.

- esophageal rupture - presents usually with pneumomediastinum and pleural effusion. It is diagnosed with water-soluble swallowed contrast.

- mediastinal mass

- mediastinitis

- cardiac tamponade

- pericardial effusion

- thoracic vertebrae fractures in trauma patients.

Plasmacytoma is a plasma cell dyscrasia in which a plasma cell tumour grows within soft tissue or within the axial skeleton.

The International Myeloma Working Group lists three types: solitary plasmacytoma of bone (SPB); extramedullary plasmacytoma (EP), and multiple plasmacytomas that are either primary or recurrent. The most common of these is SPB, accounting for 3–5% of all plasma cell malignancies. SPBs occur as lytic lesions within the axial skeleton and extramedullary plasmacytomas most often occur in the upper respiratory tract (85%), but can occur in any soft tissue. Approximately half of all cases produce paraproteinemia. SPBs and extramedullary plasmacytomas are mostly treated with radiotherapy, but surgery is used in some cases of extramedullary plasmacytoma. The skeletal forms frequently progress to multiple myeloma over the course of 2–4 years.

Due to their cellular similarity, plasmacytomas have to be differentiated from multiple myeloma. For SPB and extramedullary plasmacytoma the distinction is the presence of only one lesion (either in bone or soft tissue), normal bone marrow (<5% plasma cells), normal skeletal survey, absent or low paraprotein and no end organ damage.

Malignant pleural effusion is a condition in which cancer causes an abnormal amount of fluid to collect between the thin layers of tissue (pleura) lining the outside of the lung and the wall of the chest cavity. Lung cancer and breast cancer account for about 50-65% of malignant pleural effusions. Other common causes include pleural mesothelioma and lymphoma.

Air or gas also can build up in the pleural space. This is called a pneumothorax. It can result from acute lung injury or a lung disease like emphysema. Lung procedures, like surgery, drainage of fluid with a needle, examination of the lung from the inside with a light and a camera, or mechanical ventilation, also can cause a pneumothorax.

The most common symptom is sudden pain in one side of the lung and shortness of breath. A pneumothorax also can put pressure on the lung and cause it to collapse.

If the pneumothorax is small, it may go away on its own. If large, a chest tube is placed through the skin and chest wall into the pleural space to remove the air.

Bladder cancer in cats and dogs usually is transitional cell carcinoma, which arises from the epithelial cells that line the bladder. Less often, cancer of the urinary bladder is squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, or rhabdomyosarcoma.

The patient presents with a protrusion near the neck or between the ribs. The mass becomes prominent when the patient is straining or coughing. In asymptomatic individuals, lung hernia is incidentally detected in a chest X-ray taken for another reason. On physical examination, a prominence or mass is seen during Valsalva maneuver.

The most frequent symptoms of transitional cell carcinoma are blood in the urine, painful urination, frequent urination and/or straining to urinate. This can look very similar to an infection of the urinary system.

A pleural effusion is excess fluid that accumulates in the pleural cavity, the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. This excess can impair breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs. Various kinds of pleural effusion, depending on the nature of the fluid and what caused its entry into the pleural space, are hydrothorax (serous fluid), hemothorax (blood), urinothorax (urine), chylothorax (chyle), or pyothorax (pus). A pneumothorax is the accumulation of air in the pleural space, and is commonly called a "collapsed lung."

Hemothorax tends to occur following blunt or penetrating trauma to the thorax or thoracoabdominal area. It may also follow thoracic surgery, or may be spontaneous. Chest pain, dyspnea, and tachypnea are common presenting features. Other symptoms of hemothorax are dependent on the mechanism of injury, but may include:

- Cyanosis

- Decreased or absent breath sounds on affected side

- Tracheal deviation to unaffected side

- Dull resonance on percussion

- Unequal chest rise

- Tachycardia

- Hypotension

- Pale, cool, clammy skin

- Possible subcutaneous emphysema

- Narrowing pulse pressure

The condition is rare but serious, and appears in all mammals. It results from leakage of lymph fluid from the thoracic duct (or one of its tributaries). This can result from direct laceration (e.g., from surgery) or from nontraumatic causes. The most common nontraumatic cause is malignancy, especially lymphoma. Less common is left-heart failure, infections, and developmental abnormalities such as Down syndrome and Noonan syndrome.

A chylothorax (or chyle leak) is a type of pleural effusion. It results from lymph formed in the digestive system called chyle accumulating in the pleural cavity due to either disruption or obstruction of the thoracic duct.

In people on a normal diet, this effusion can be identified by its turbid, milky white appearance, since chyle contains high levels of triglycerides. It is important to distinguish chylothorax from pseudochylothorax (pleural effusions high in cholesterol), which has a similar appearance, but is caused by more chronic inflammatory processes, and has a different treatment.

Lung hernia (Sibson hernia) is a protrusion of lung outside of thoracic wall. In 20% patients with lung hernia, the incidence is congenital. In 80% of the cases, the hernia is noted after chest trauma, thoracic surgery or certain pulmonary diseases. Congenital hernia occurs because of the weakness of the suprapleural membrane or neck muscles. In pulmonary diseases such as asthma, frequent coughing can lead to high intra thoracic pressure, causing the lung to herniate out. Lung hernia may occur near the neck (cervical), between the ribs (intercostal), near the vertebrae (paravertebral) or near the sternum (parasternal).