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Summary Breathlessness is a commonly encountered symptom in pregnancy. The differential diagnosis for acute breathlessness in pregnancy is broad and possibilities range from physiological changes and psychological causes to acute respiratory disorders, which include pulmonary embolism (PE), acute asthma, infection and pneumothorax. It is rare to find a malignancy as the underlying cause of breathlessness. We report a case of severe breathlessness and chest pain in a 26-year-old woman presenting at 36 weeks gestation. A chest radiograph was normal but a computertomogram (CT) identified a mass, which was subsequently demonstrated to be a malignant bronchial carcinoid tumour. Although abdominal carcinoid tumours have been reported in the literature, to our knowledge, this is the first reported pulmonary carcinoid tumour, presenting during pregnancy.