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Case Reports
. 2006 Oct;21(5):940-3.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2006.21.5.940.

Primary cardiac sarcoma in pregnancy: a case report

Geum Joon Cho  1 , Hai Joong Kim, Jae Seong Kang
Affiliations
Case Reports

Primary cardiac sarcoma in pregnancy: a case report

Geum Joon Cho et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2006 Oct.

Abstract

Primary cardiac sarcoma is a rare disease in adults. It is also associated with poor prognoses, due to diagnostic delay, therapeutic difficulty, and high metastatic potential. The coincidence of pregnancy and a primary cardiac intimal sarcoma is extremely rare. We report a pregnant woman at 27(+5) weeks gestation who was admitted to the hospital with acute-onset dyspnea. A mass was found on the left atrium by transthoracic echocardiography. Subsequently, the intracardiac mass was removed, and mitral valve replacement and modified DeVega tricuspid annuloplasty were performed. The patient was diagnosed with a undifferentiated sarcoma, and gave birth to a 1,230 g living baby boy by Caesarean section from preterm contraction at 29(+5) weeks gestation. The patient then received systemic chemotherapy. However, 10 months after the initial clinical onset, the patient suddenly died. Surgery is the standard treatment for cardiac tumors, and their removal should always be attempted, even in pregnant women. Although the overall survival rates of the patients are rather poor, palliative cardiac surgery allows the prolonging of pregnancy, until an acceptable fetal viability level is reached.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Transthoracic echocardiography shows a mass spreading from the anterior of the left atrium to the mitral leaflet and mitral annulus.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The mass originating from the atrioventricular wall was found to have spread all the way to the anterior leaflet and annulus of the mitral valve.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Photomicrograph of the undifferentiated cardiac intimal sarcoma. (A) The tumor is a highly cellular, showing areas of coagulative necrosis without any organoid pattern (H&E, ×40). (B) The high power view shows tumor cells with oval to spindle shaped, hyperchromatic or vesicular nuclei and frequent mitoses (H&E, ×400).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Computed tomography image shows a huge solid mass with cystic degeneration occupying the pelvic cavity.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The metastatic ovarian tumor is composed of spindle shaped, malignant cells identical to cardiac tumor (H&E, ×400).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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