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Case Reports
. 2020 Jan;9(1):394-399.
doi: 10.21037/tcr.2019.11.42.

Rarely seen primary cardiac natural killer/T cell lymphoma: a case report

Xin Yang  1 , Hao Xu  1 , Liang Huang  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Rarely seen primary cardiac natural killer/T cell lymphoma: a case report

Xin Yang et al. Transl Cancer Res. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Primary cardiac lymphoma is an extremely rare malignancy, which is typically of a non-Hodgkin's type. Clinical manifestations including dyspnea, arrhythmia, chest pain and so on, may vary according to heart site involved and the right atrium is most frequently involved. Histologically, the majority of primary cardiac lymphomas are B-cell origin, especially diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Here we report a case of primary cardiac nature killer/T cell lymphoma arising in a 40-year-old woman, who presented with paroxysmal chest congestion, nausea and ventricular tachycardia, and diagnosed by open chest surgery and whole body PET/CT scan, then treated with three cycles of chemotherapy, but finally died of multiple organ failure. The optimal treatment strategies to primary cardiac lymphoma have not been fully defined due to its rarity, which still needs to gather more cases and conduct further researches.

Keywords: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV); NK/T cell; Primary cardiac lymphoma; case report.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tcr.2019.11.42). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET/CT) scan. Only a mass of accelerated glycolytic metabolism (SUV 7.1) at right atrioventricular groove was found (A), and the representative images of abdominal cavity (B), pelvic cavity (C), and nasal cavity (D) are shown as well.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Immunohistochemistry of extra-nodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type. Hematoxylin and eosin stained sections of the mass reveals a dense infiltrate of primarily small lymphocytes with irregular nuclear contours (A) and immunohistochemistry shows the neoplastic cell co-express CD3ε (B) and CD56 (C). Almost all of the neoplastic cells are Ki67 positive (D), and neoplastic cells showed EBER positive (E), but CD20 negative (F). Magnification: ×400.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Timeline of interventions and outcomes. MTX, methotrexate; DEX, dexamethasone; MOF, multiple organ failure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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