Echocardiographic diagnosis of carcinoid disease: exceptional evolution after ovarian tumor resection without cardiac surgery

Abstract

There are very few cases described in literature with carcinoid heart disease caused by a pure ovarian tumor. Right heart failure remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality. Cardiac surgery is the only definitive treatment when cardiac symptoms become severe but with high perioperative mortality rates. We present a 68-year-old woman with a pure ovarian carcinoid tumor complicated with heart disease alive 7 years later after ovarian resection, without valve replacement and with regression of tricuspid and pulmonary injury. Echocardiography was the diagnostic clue.