Journal of medical case reports
-
Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma is defined as a pleomorphic high-grade sarcoma whose line of differentiation cannot be determined. These tumors constitute less than 5% of all sarcomas in adults. Cardiac neoplasms are rare, and most are metastatic in origin. More than one-third of cardiac metastases originate from lung cancer. Symptoms of cardiac neoplasms usually appear late in the course of the disease and are often ignored because of the more severe effects of the primary malignancy or its therapy. We present the case of a patient with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung presenting with symptomatic right-heart failure secondary to cardiac metastasis. The purpose of this report is to present this unusual case. ⋯ In patients who have known metastatic neoplasms and present with cardiac manifestations, whether detected during history taking or physical examination, the clinician should be alert to the possibility of cardiac metastases. In patients with cardiac metastases, the therapeutic alternatives are limited to palliative treatment of symptoms and chemotherapy. In some patients, surgery can be used to relieve symptoms. We have reported the first case of symptomatic cardiac metastases from an undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung. Our patient underwent surgical resection, and her symptoms improved significantly. This case is unique because it is the only reported case of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung which metastasized to the heart, and in which symptomatic improvement was effectively obtained with surgical resection.
-
Tetralogy of Fallot is one of the most common forms of cyanotic congenital heart disease and in the absence of surgical correction it has an elevated early mortality, with most patients dying in childhood.The authors reported this case because of the unusual course of an uncorrected tetralogy of Fallot. There are only a few reports of patients with an uncorrected tetralogy of Fallot who reach an advanced age and to the best of our knowledge this is the first case report of a possible endocarditis in a patient with an uncorrected tetralogy of Fallot who is older than 70 years. ⋯ The longevity of this patient is probably due to the association between a large ventricular septal defect, a balanced subpulmonary stenosis and to the presence of systemic hypertension. After empiric antibiotic therapy, the patient was discharged and no surgical intervention was performed due to her previous benign evolution.