Case report of death from falling: Did heart tumor cause syncope?

Abstract

A healthy man in his 30s was working on the balustrade of stairs on the second floor. He suddenly fell downstairs without saying anything. On emergency hospitalization, chest echogram showed left hemothorax. Cardiac echogram showed a floating mass from the mitral valve in the left ventricle and severe mitral regurgitation. Surgery for hemothorax and pulmonary contusion was immediately undertaken. However, bleeding from pulmonary contusion could not be controlled and he underwent cardiopulmonary arrest. Autopsy showed a white, elastic, pendulous mass in the left atrium and a white mass in the lower lobe of the left lung. Tumor histology showed a reticular pattern, Schiller-Duval bodies, eosinophilic hyaline globules, and positive staining for α-fetoprotein. We diagnosed primary lung yolk sac tumor with metastatic intracardiac yolk sac tumor, a rare and highly malignant germ cell tumor. It usually arises in the ovaries and testes, and intracardiac yolk sac tumor is rare. Intracavitary tumors induce obstruction of inflow into and outflow from the ventricular cavity. The most common clinical presentation is dyspnea and syncope. In the present case, metastatic cardiac yolk sac tumor might have disturbed cardiac outflow and affected hemodynamics, probably causing syncope. Unfortunately, he was in a high place at that time and fell to receive pulmonary contusion that led to death. Autopsy may sometimes reveal latent diseases which might be related to the cause of death. We should perform autopsy thoroughly to diagnose not only the cause of death but also the factors leading to death.