Background and aim: Cardiac sarcoma is a rare condition and may mimic atrial myxoma. We present a case report of a man with a cardiac sarcoma.
Method: Case report presentation.
Results: A 68-year-old man with a permanent pacemaker presented to us with a 4-month history of breathlessness. Echocardiography revealed a large right atrial mass adherent to the pacemaker lead and a provisional diagnosis of atrial myxoma was made based on echocardiographic appearance. A 60 x 30 x 30 mm irregular lobulated tumour was surgically resected from the right atrium. Upon histopathologic examination, the tumour was consistent with an undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma.
Conclusion: Cardiac sarcomas have an extremely poor prognosis and more unfortunately this man developed a surgical site infection and died of acute mediastinitis. We discuss the presentation, imaging and current surgical approaches to cardiac sarcoma. Curative treatment is currently limited for this disease.
Keywords: cardiac mass; cardiac sarcoma; cardiovascular pathology; pacemaker.
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