Tumor Metastasis to the Heart

Abstract

This article is a survey of 476 consecutive cases of tumor death for heart involvement. The somewhat selected group of cases (from a Veterans Administration hospital) shows an incidence of cardiac metastasis of 19.1 per cent. The bulk of tumors metastasizing to the heart were bronchogenic carcinoma, malignant melanoma, malignant lymphoma, and carcinoma of the pancreas and esophagus. Electrocardiographic changes were frequent and correlated fairly closely with the anatomic extent of the disease. The related literature is reviewed.M YOCARDIAL involvement by neoplasms arising elsewhere in the body is no longer considered rare. A survey of the literature discloses a gradually rising incidence of myocardial metastasis as this subject is more closely explored. It has recently been estimated that more than 500 instances of tumor metastasis to the heart are now recorded, and more than 20 of these were diagnosed before death

An unusual case of metastasis to the left side of the heart: a case report

“…in 1954 reported 13 cases of metastases to the heart out of 91 cancer cases [7]. The most common cancers were malignant lymphoma (61%), bronchial carcinoma (36.7%) and renal carcinoma (26.7%), as shown in Table 1.…”

“…A few cancer cases that have metastasis to the left side of heart were reported in 1954 [7]. Recently a left heart metastasis was detected for which a primary tumor had not been found by computed tomography (CT) scan.…”

Malignant Lymphoma Demonstrating Sick Sinus Syndrome.

“…Therefore, SA node involvement by lymphoma should be considered an etiological factor when SSS of unknowncause is encountered and close observation should be paid to detect the emergence of other cardiac involvement or already existing subclinical SVCstenosis or pericardial effu- Phenotypes of the lymphomasreported to involve the heart have not been examined fully (1,2). Four out of eight cases showing SSS were demonstrated to be the B-cell type (5, 7-9), three were described simply as poorly differentiated lymphoma (4, 6, 10) and one as reticulum cell sarcoma (3).…”

“…However, it is difficult to detect by clinical examination because of insufficient symptoms ( 1). Signs suggesting involvement of the heart by malignant tumors are congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, pericardial effusion and superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome (2). Reports describing sick sinus syndrome (SSS) due to malignant lymphomahave been rare and only eight cases have been reported until to date (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10).…”

High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation following systemic chemotherapy, prophylactic intrathecal methotrexate, and radiotherapy prevents relapse and improves the outcome of advanced stage primary testicular lymphoma even with cardiac involvement

“…6 Approximately 8-15% of lymphoma patients have cardiac involvement. 6,7 As the rate of complete remission (CR) for primary cardiac lymphoma is only 37.5%, it has a poor prognosis. 8 Similarly, secondary cardiac lymphoma patients also have a very poor outcome due to the high risk of sudden death.…”