Coexistence of coronary artery disease and cancer with both requiring surgical treatment at the same time is rare. A 52 year male undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting was incidentally discovered to have a large soft tissue mass of variable consistency with cartilaginous elements arising from the right costal margin and adjoining ribs by a broad attachment and protruding into right pleural cavity. Frozen section suggested it to be either a chondrosarcoma or a teratoma. A wide excision of the mass with the adjoining muscle and periosteum along with quadruple coronary artery bypass grafting was done. This report is unusual on account of a) being the first reported case in world literature of concomitant excision of chondrosarcoma and coronary artery bypass grafting and b) the conservative management of the incidentally discovered chondrosarcoma by wide excision rather than chest wall resection with no local recurrence to date. Pathology of chondrosarcoma, in particular, and various management strategies when coronary artery disease and cancer coexist, in general, is discussed.
Case presentationA 52 year old male smoker undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting for three vessel coronary artery disease and moderately impaired left ventricular function was felt to have a mass arising from the under surface of right costal margin adjacent to right lower sternal margin while sternopericardial ligament was being broken off by finger dissection prior to sternotomy. Preoperative chest X-ray suggested a soft, globular paracardiac shadow in relation to the right pericardiophrenic angle, appreciated better retrospectively (Figure 1) Sternotomy was made, the right pleura was opened to facilitate delineation of the mass. The mass measured 8 × 6 × 3 cms and was arising from the right costal margin and the adjacent surfaces of 7 th , 8 th , 9 th and 10 th ribs (Figure 2). The mass was of firm to hard and variable consistency and was filled with cartilaginous material and there was no definite demarcation between the mass and the chest wall. The chest wall mass was excised in its entirety along with the intercostal muscle and the periosteum (Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5). The frozen section revealed it to be either a chondrosarcoma or teratoma. Quadruple coronary artery bypass grafting to left anterior descending artery and its diagonal branch, obtuse marginal branch of circumflex artery and left ventricular branch of right coronary artery was performed using left internal mammary artery and long saphenous vein for conduits, employing cardiopulmonary bypass with antegrade cold blood cardioplegic arrest. Patient made uncomplicated postoperative recovery.