Pseudometastasis of the chest wall resulting from a Hickman catheter

A 21-year-old woman with a high-grade soft-tissue sarcoma developed a lesion in the soft tissues of her chest wall at the same time that she developed pulmonary metastases from her primary neoplasm. The chest wall lesion diminished in size on sequential computed tomography (CT) scans, indicating that it was a pseudometastasis caused by removal of the patient's indwelling Hickman catheter. Awareness that removal of tunneled central venous catheters can produce soft-tissue masses in the chest wall that may mimic metastases may prevent inappropriate staging and treatment of these patients.