Askin (PNET) Tumor Unmasked by Trauma in a Young Male Patient

A young male labourer developed pain at the site of blunt trauma over back of chest followed by fever, cough with expectoration, breathlessness and hemorrhagic pleural effusion in the side of injury. What could have been passed as a sequel of trauma turned out to be the consequences of an underlying rare and aggressive malignant tumor of the chest wall known as Askin tumor or Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor (PNET). CT thorax with guided FNAC, debulking operation, histopathological examination followed by immunohistochemistry of the tumor tissue led to the final diagnosis. Chemotherapy was administered following surgical resection. The patient died within nine months after diagnosis.