Metastases to the heart

Primary malignant sarcomas of the heart and great vessels in adult patients--a single-center experience

BACKGROUND

Sarcomas arising in the heart or the great vessels are rare entities. The prognosis of the patients is dismal.

METHODS

Between January 1993 and September 2006, of 1,429 patients registered to the Sarcoma Center, 14 had a primary sarcoma of the heart or large vessels.

RESULTS

Tumors were located in the left ventricle (n = 3), left/right atrium (n = 2/3), pulmonary artery (n = 2), and ventricular septum, aorta, pericardium, and inferior vena cava (n = 1 each). The most frequently encountered histologic subtypes were leiomyosarcoma and angiosarcoma. Six patients presented with distant metastases to the lungs (n = 5), lymph nodes (n = 2), and liver (n = 1). Eight patients had localized disease. Six of them underwent resection with curative intent. Of those, two developed local recurrence within 2 and 10 months from surgery. Eleven patients received palliative chemotherapy, seven of those as initial treatment. Eight patients attained a response to treatment, two had disease stabilization for 6 and 12 months. After a median follow-up of 14.5 months (range, 2-156), three patients were alive with no evidence of disease 11, 52, and 156 months after diagnosis. Two patients were alive with disease and nine patients had died.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with primary sarcomas of the heart and the large vessels were of a young age, and more than half of them presented with advanced disease. Given the promising response to chemotherapy, an optimized treatment approach including neoadjuvant chemo-/radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced disease should be pursued.

Concomitant surgery of a left atrial myxoma and a pulmonary carcinoma

We report the first successful outcome of a patient undergoing concomitant surgery for a left atrial myxoma and a squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Preoperative evaluations revealed lung cancer and a left atrial tumor of undetermined origin. An operation to excise both cardiac and pulmonary tumors was performed. The cardiac tumor was first resected with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass. The histopathological diagnosis was myxoma. Resection of the left upper pulmonary lobe and mediastinal lymph nodes followed. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient is well without evidence of recurrence 7 years after the operation.

Cardiac tamponade as the initial manifestation of metastatic adenocarcinoma from the colon: a case report

Metastatic cardiac malignancies mainly come from the lung, breast, and the lymphoreticular system by direct invasion or hematogenous or lymphatic spread. Metastasis from colorectal cancer to the heart or pericardium is seldom reported and only sporadic antemortem cases have been reported. We report an unusual case of malignant pericardial effusion caused by metastatic adenocarcinoma of colon. Malignant pericardial effusion and subsequent tamponade was the earliest manifestation without any other confirmed clinical metastases. Pericardiotomy was performed to relieve the life-threatening cardiac tamponade. We report this rare case and review the literature.

Right atrial botryoid rhabdomyosarcoma in an adult patient with recurrent pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcomas following doxorubicin therapy

We describe a case of a 37-year-old Hispanic woman who presented with a right atrial botryoid rhabdomyosarcoma 2 years after doxorubicin therapy for a recurrent pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma of the chest wall. Although this may be a second primary, it most likely represents a cardiac metastasis with maturation of chemotherapy-resistant tumor cells.

Both-sided Intra-atrial Intracardiac Metastases as the Initial Presentation of Testicular Seminoma

We report a case of a 41-year-old man admitted with respiratory distress and found to have masses in both atria of the heart and in the testicle. The patient received palliative radiotherapy to relieving obstruction of blood flow tract caused by the intracardiac masses, followed by radical orchiectomy. After the diagnosis of testicular seminoma, he was treated successfully with 4 cycles of systemic chemotherapy. This is a rare case that presented with metastatic testicular seminoma involving both atria of heart and causing symptomatic obstruction of blood flow tract.

Heart failure due to right ventricular metastatic neuroendocrine tumor

We report a case of a female patient that was referred to our service with progressive weakness and dyspnea. Three years ago, she had been submitted to hysterectomy and salpingo-oforectomy followed by adjuvant radiotherapy due to uterine cervix neuroendocrine tumor. Two-dimensional echocardiography showed a dense sessile mass in the right ventricle causing right and left ventricular filling restriction. Despite chemotherapy the patient died and necropsy confirmed metastases from neuroendocrine tumor to the right ventricle.

A case of non-functioning huge adrenocortical carcinoma extending into inferior vena cava and right atrium

Primary adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare tumor and its usual sites of metastasis are the lung (71%), lymph node (68%), liver (42%), and bone (26%). However, intracaval invasion extending into the right atrium is very rare and spontaneous regression of tumor burden in adrenal carcinoma is also rare. We report a case of ACC with direct invasion of the inferior vena cava and right atrium. A 34-yr-old male patient presented with progressive dyspnea, weight loss, and poor oral intake over 3 months. Non-functioning ACC with direct invasion of the inferior vena cava and right atrium was confirmed by imaging, pathologic, and hormonal study. Chemo-radiotherapy was attempted. However, tumor burden was not changed, but rather toxic hepatitis and thrombocytopenia were developed. His subjective symptoms and general conditions were improved after 1 month of conservative management and the patient was discharged. During clinical follow-up, this tumor showed spontaneous regression.

Unusual manifestations of disseminated neoplasia at presentation: right-sided heart failure due to a massive cardiac metastasis and autoimmune thrombocytopenia in pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma of the adult

Although it is recognized that aggressive soft tissue sarcomas may give rise to cardiac metastases, these manifestations are usually late and clinically silent, being the prevailing finding in exceptional cases. This report describes the occurrence of a massive cardiac metastasis at diagnosis of leg rhabdomyosarcoma in a middle-age adult. This manifestation was the cause of rapidly progressive congestive heart failure and, together with the unusual occurrence of autoimmune thrombocytopenia, led to difficult patient care with a significantly negative influence on the outcome.

[Frequency of metastatic tumors in the heart]

INTRODUCTION

Secondary or metastatic tumors in the heart occur more frequently than primary ones, and, according to the published series, their frequency found in autopsic material ranges from 1.6% to 20.6%. Metastatic tumors in the heart are rarely clinically symptomatic, and, therefore, they are rarely diagnosed within the lifetime. They are mostly diagnosed at autopsy. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of metastatic tumors of the heart, their primary localization, as well as the localization of the metastases found in the autopsic material within the period 1972-2004.

METHODS

During the autopsy of the patients died of metastatic tumors, we microscopically and macroscopically analyzed all the organs and tissues to determine the metastases of primary tumors in other organs, especially in the heart and pericardium.

RESULTS

Within the period from 1972-2004, 11 403 autopsies were performed. In 2 928 (25.6%) out of 11 403 autopsies, the presence of malignant tumor was diagnosed, and in 79 (2.7%) of these cases, metastasis of the heart was found out. Only in 5 of the cases, the presence of metastasis in the heart was diagnosed during the lifetime. The most frequent metastases in the heart were caused by pulmonary carcinoma (18 cases), leukemia and malignant lymphoma (8 cases, each), then pancreatic and breast carcinoma, while the metastases of other carcinomas were rather rare. In 40 (60.76%) cases, the metastasis was localized in the myocardium, but more often in the left ventricle, in 24 (30.38%) cases in the pericardium, in 4 cases in the epicardium and in the 3 of them in the mitral and tricuspid valve. Only in one case of renal carcionoma, metastasis was found in the right atrium and it occurred by spreading (dissemination) through the lumen of the inferior vena cava.

CONCLUSION

Metastatic tumors of the heart are rather rare, and rarely clinically symptomatic, and, thus, rarely diagnosed during life. The methods of choice for the diagnosis of the metastasis in the heart are echocardiography, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, cytological analysis of the pericardial effusion and biopsy. The treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Varix of the Right Atrium

A 68-year-old female patient was referred for the evaluation of an incidentally detected asymptomatic cardiac mass. Imaging studies showed a 3.0 x 2.4 cm, well circumscribed, round, cystic mass with a calcified nodule that was attached to the lower rim of the fossa ovalis in the right atrium. Under cardiopulmonary bypass, the right atrium was opened to reveal a well circumscribed, dark bluish, pedunculated mass. Histologically, the specimen was a unilocular cyst lined by flattened endothelium, with peripheral fibrin clots and dystrophic calcification of the wall. Immunohistochemical staining of the lining cells was positive for cluster designation 34, which represents hematopoietic progenitor cell antigen. The final pathologic diagnosis was compatible with varix of the heart, which should be considered for a cystic mass with a calcified nodule located in the right atrium, near the lower rim of the fossa ovalis.

Non-invasive cardiologic findings in patients with malignant melanoma*

Although malignant melanoma has a great propensity (38-50%) for cardiac involvement, as indicated by autopsy findings, cardiac metastases are rarely identified ante-mortem. The aim of this study was to record abnormal electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings in patients with malignant melanoma. One hundred and eighty-five consecutive patients (male/female, 99/86; mean age, 59.6 years) with histologically proven malignant melanoma (American Joint Committee on Cancer stages II-IV), and with no known history of heart disease, were evaluated prospectively over a period of 11 years. The cardiologic findings considered were an unexpected delayed conduction of an electrical stimulus, recorded by high-resolution signal-averaged electrocardiogram (presence of ventricular late potentials), prolongation of the PR, QRS and QTc segments in a surface electrocardiogram, and abnormal Q waves. Echocardiographic findings comprised pericardial implantation/effusion or presence of intracavitary/intramyocardial metastases. Forty-one abnormal findings were recorded, pertaining to 38 of the 185 patients (19.5%). In particular, PR interval prolongation was found in eight patients (4.3%) and QTc interval prolongation in 11 (6%). Abnormal Q waves were recorded in five patients (2.7%). The filtered QRS interval was prolonged in seven patients (3.8%). Finally, echocardiographic examination showed discrete pericardial implantations and small to moderate pericardial effusion in six patients (3.2%) and intracavitary/intramyocardial metastases in four (2.1%). The median survival of these patients was 33 months (95% confidence interval, 19.9-46.1 months). It can be concluded that abnormal electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings are recorded at the time of diagnosis of the disease in a significant percentage of patients with malignant melanoma.