Reticulum-cell sarcoma with intracardiac metastases. Case with angiocardiographic improvement after chemotherapy

Relapse of lymphoma in the heart after a 10-year remission

A 71-year-old woman presented with intractable cardiac failure 10 years after receiving treatment for lymphoma. Extensive investigations failed to demonstrate a recurrence of her disease, but resolution of her cardiac failure following a trial of chemotherapy and subsequently a cross-sectional echocardiogram suggested intracardiac relapse. This was later confirmed at autopsy. Cardiac metastases should be suspected in patients with malignant disease who develop signs or symptoms related to the heart.

Sick sinus syndrome with seroconstrictive pericarditis in malignant lymphoma involving the heart: a case report

A case of the sick sinus syndrome and constrictive pericarditis with effusion (seroconstrictive pericarditis) as manifestations of lymphomatous involvement of the heart is presented. Autopsy findings documented infiltration of the sinus node by undifferentiated malignant lymphoma cells. The clinical course is described and problems with diagnosis and management of such a complication are discussed. This is one of the few cases in the literature in which an uncommon cause of conduction system disease and pericardial constriction was substantiated by electrocardiogram, angiography, and autopsy.

Imaging procedures in the detection of cardiac tumors, with emphasis on echocardiography: a review

Although cardiac tumors are relatively rare, their diagnosis is important because successful treatment is usually feasible if the diagnosis is made preoperatively. An analysis of 219 reports of cardiac tumors described in the English literature from 1972 through 1977 demonstrated the predominance of benign tumors, in particular myxoma, which is in agreement with past reviews. The methods of diagnosis employed included plain chest films, echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, angiocardiography, and cardiac scintigraphy. Conventional x-ray examination of the chest was abnormal in 83% of cardiac tumors but non-specific and should lead to further evaluation, first by echocardiography. Echocardiography, the most efficient diagnostic procedure for screening possible cardiac tumors, was abnormal in 94% of the cases. Cardiac catheterization was abnormal in 80% of cardiac tumors while definitive detection was made by angiocardiography in 94% of the cases. Cardiac scintigraphy has had limited use in the diagnosis of cardiac tumors, but has been diagnostic in 100% of the cases in a small series of myxomas.

Left atrial metastasis of chorion carcinoma, presenting as mitral stenosis

A 35-year-old women developed symptoms of multiple system disease. Three months later she was admitted to hospital and died six days after admission, with signs suggestive of mitral stenosis. Postmortem examination indicated primary chorion carcinoma of the right ovary with metastases to the left atrium, lungs, brain, kidneys, pancreas, mesenteric arteries, and spleen. The signs and symptoms, and the morphological and histological findings at necroscopy, are discussed.