A butterfly-shaped primary cardiac lymphoma that showed bi-atrial involvement

Korean Circ J. 2012 Jan;42(1):46-9. doi: 10.4070/kcj.2012.42.1.46. Epub 2012 Jan 31.

Abstract

We described here a patient who presented with symptoms of heart failure who was found to have severe bilateral impairment of atrioventricular inflow. Primary cardiac lymphoma (PCL) with extensive involvement of the two atria, pericardium and myocardium is an extremely rare tumor in immunocompetent patients. We report here a case of PCL in an immunocompetent patient with involvement of both atria and the atrial septum. The tumor had a butterfly shape. We could not do surgical excision because of the massive pericardiac invasion. The diagnosis was B-cell lymphoma and this was confirmed by the pericardiac biopsy.

Keywords: Cardiac tumor; Heart atria; Large B-cell, diffuse; Lymphoma; Pericardium.