Pericardial Synovial Sarcoma

Abstract

We report a rare case of a primary synovial sarcoma of the pericardium. Surgical resection was incomplete and chemotherapy and radiotherapy (tomotherapy) were therefore administered. Regular cardiac magnetic resonance imaging scans were used throughout the follow-up, allowing effective planning and application of adjuvant therapies. The survival of our patient was 26 months, substantially longer than most previously reported cases.

Primary pericardial synovial sarcoma: A case report and literature review

“…Metastatic lesions are more common than primary lesions [16]. These are dominated by mesothelioma while primitive pericardial synovial sarcoma is extremely rare [3][4][5][6] with only 17 cases reported to date in the English literature (Table 1) [1,3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Malignant spindle cell tumors, pericardial cysts, liposarcomas, lipomas, and teratomas are other less common varieties of primitive pericardial tumors [14].…”

“…It is well established that magnetic resonance imaging allows for a better assessment of heart and pericardial tumors and distinguishes between benign and malignant tumors [5,18]. It is effective in post-treatment monitoring [6,7]. Generally, a pericardial mass associated with a pericardial effusion shows up.…”

“…Other atypical primary localizations have been described: head and neck, heart, pleura, abdomen, kidney, prostate, and vulva [1]. Pericardial localization is extremely rare [3][4][5][6]. Only a few well-documented cases have been published [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Pericardial synovial sarcoma in a dyspnoeic female with tuberculous pericarditis: A case report

“…In total, 8–10% of cardiac sarcomas are synovial sarcomas, which are histologically classified into the following 4 subtypes depending on the relative proportion of epithelial and spindle cells: (i) Biphasic, (ii) monophasic fibrous (spindle cell), (iii) monophasic epithelial and (iv) poorly differentiated. Primary pericardial synovial sarcomas are the rarest, with only 7 reports in the literature (1,3–8), and are associated with the longest survival period of 14 years (3). …”

“…Other sites of origin include the head and neck, paravertebral region, chest and abdominal wall (2). At present, few cases of synovial sarcoma that occur in pericardium have been published in the literature (1,3–8). Pericardial synovial sarcoma is associated with an extremely poor survival rate with a disease-free survival of 12 months after surgery (1), and an overall survival of 7 months (9).…”