A Mass Filling the Right Atrium: Primary Cardiac Rhabdomyosarcoma

Recurrent cardiac rhabdomyosarcoma with multiple metastases: A case report

Rhabdomyosarcoma, which accounts for 20% of all malignant tumors of the heart, is an aggressive tumor originating in the ventricular wall. These tumors are the second most common malignant primary tumor of the heart after angiosarcoma. Despite treatment options, such as surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, recurrence is common and mortality is high. Among these patients, survival with surgical resection is around six months to one year. In this case report, we discuss a patient who presented with recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma with distant metastasis after surgical intervention. A 56-year-old male patient who underwent left atrial mass excision and mitral valve replacement ten months prior was admitted with recurrent metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma.

Prognostic Impacts of Tumour Size on Patients With Primary Cardiac Sarcoma

BACKGROUND

Primary cardiac sarcoma (PCS) is a deadly disease. The impacts of tumour size on prognosis and surgical outcomes in PCS patients remains unclear. Here, we evaluate the impact of tumour size on overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of PCS patients to provide a reference for the surgical treatment.

METHODS

A total of 261 PCS participants enrolled from 1983 to 2016 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Using the X-tile program, we classified the tumour size into 2 subgroups: ≤ 4.0 cm and > 4.0 cm. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine OS and CSS. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify the independent prognostic impacts of tumour size and surgery in the 2 subgroups (≤ 4.0 cm vs > 4.0 cm).

RESULTS

With the use of 4.0 cm as a cutoff value, tumour size seemed to be an independent prognostic factor for OS (P = 0.009) and CSS (P = 0.014) of PCS patients. Surgery improved the OS (P = 0.017) and CSS (P = 0.040) in PCS patients with tumour size > 4.0 cm but not in with tumour size ≤ 4.0 cm (both P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Tumour size of > 4.0 cm is an independent predictor of poor prognosis and is associated with the surgical outcomes in PCS patients. Surgery significantly improves the prognosis in PCS patients with tumour size > 4.0 cm. Our findings have the potential to assist clinicians to better evaluate the prognosis of PCS patients and develop optimal therapeutic strategies.