Primary Cardiac Sarcoma Remission after Surgery: 5-Years Follow-up: Case Report

BACKGROUND

Primary cardiac sarcoma is a rare and atypical clinical entity. We present a patient with long-term remission after primary cardiac sarcoma resection.

CASE REPORT

A 42-year-old previously healthy female presented to the emergency department after an effort-induced 30-minute episode of chest pain and extreme shortness of breath. Physical examination upon admission was remarkable for a pulse of 99/minute; blood pressure was 101/73 mmHg. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a mass measuring 5.5 × 5.6 cm extending from the left septum to the mitral valve anterior leaflet. A multilobulated broad-based 5.5 × 5.6 × 4 cm3 mass invading a large portion of the left septum to the mitral valve anterior leaflet was completely excised in the open heart surgery. Chemotherapy regimen (paclitaxel 175 mg/m2/day on day 1, every 21 days) was started after operation. Full remission was provided. Metastasis and recurrence have not been observed for 5 years of follow-up by PET. We observed during 5 years and used a PET. And the finally we did not see metastasis at the 5 years of follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

We strongly recommend that a patient-specific multidisciplinary approach involving radical resection, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy in these cases results in patient survival and a significant improvement in quality of life. We also think that it is necessary to perform MRI to exclude other illnesses that are considered to be a myxoma.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce vascular tone and inflammation in human saphenous vein

Dietary intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has been reported to have beneficial cardiovascular effects. However, little is known about the effect of EPA and DHA on human vascular tone. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of EPA and DHA on vascular tone of the human saphenous vein (SV) obtained from patients undergoing coronary bypass operation under normal and inflammatory conditions. Moreover, we aimed to investigate the effect of EPA and DHA on the release of inflammatory mediators from SV. Pretreatment of SV with EPA and DHA (100μM, 18h) decreased the contractile response of SV to norepinephrine (NE) under normal and inflammatory conditions. Moreover, EPA and DHA pretreatment diminished increased Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) release from SV under inflammatory conditions. In conclusion, our results suggest that EPA and DHA pretreatment may be beneficial to counteract graft vasospasm and vascular inflammation in SV which are important factors in graft failure development. Therefore, dietary intake of EPA and DHA may have potential clinical applications in improving coronary bypass graft patency.