An uncommon cause of heart failure: cardiac sarcomas in the left atrium

High-Grade Left Atrial Pleomorphic Sarcoma: Case Report and Review

Primary pleomorphic sarcoma of the left atrium is a rare tumor. There is no actual evidence of the management of this pathological entity, so the main treatment is individualized, surgical management being the cornerstone of the treatment. We present a 78-year-old female who had a clinical picture of heart failure, documenting an atrial mass of the left atrium, with high-grade pleomorphic sarcoma revealed in histopathology. The tumor was surgical removed, with no clinical evidence of residual mass. The tumor recurred again within 3 years, to which the patient succumbed.

Amaurosis fugax due to pleomorphic sarcoma in the left atrium

Purpose

This report describes a case of amaurosis fugax due to a rare primary cardiac sarcoma.

Observations

A patient who was recently diagnosed with left atrial pleomorphic sarcoma presented with a chief complaint of multiple episodes of intermittent vision loss in the right eye during the course of radiation therapy.

Conclusions and importance

The authors postulate emboli from the left atrial sarcoma entered systemic circulation and subsequently caused brief episodes of transient occlusion to retinal, ophthalmic and/or ciliary arteries leading to momentary retinal hypoxia. We believe this is a novel finding, previously unreported in the literature, of transient embolic occlusion without permanent visual sequelae due to a malignant primary cardiac pleomorphic sarcoma.

Unique presentation of a primary pleomorphic sarcoma of the left atrium

This report describes an extremely rare cause of a common presentation. A 59-year-old man who presented with symptoms of progressive cardiac failure, was demonstrated to have a large left intraatrial mass on computed tomography pulmonary angiography and an echocardiogram. He proceeded to urgent surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass. Histology of the resected mass diagnosed primary pleomorphic sarcoma of the left atrium. This exceedingly rare malignancy has a poor prognosis and often presents with nonspecific symptoms. Echocardiography remains vital in diagnosis, and treatment is primarily surgical excision, with some reports of adjuvant chemotherapy.