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Primary Cardiac Angiosarcoma with Spontaneous Ruptures of the Right Atrium and Right Coronary Artery
Author(s) -
Tang Kui,
Shang QuanLiang,
Zhou QiChang,
Zhou JiaWei,
She XiaoLin,
Zhang Ming
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
echocardiography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1540-8175
pISSN - 0742-2822
DOI - 10.1111/echo.12176
Subject(s) - medicine , pericardial effusion , cardiac tamponade , angiosarcoma , pericardial cavity , cardiology , pericardium , tamponade , effusion , right coronary artery , radiology , surgery , coronary angiography , myocardial infarction
Primary tumors of the heart are rarely seen. Cardiac angiosarcomas are malignant tumors that almost always have a poor prognosis. Atrium rupture and coronary artery fistula are very rare complications of primary cardiac angiosarcoma. We describe a 57‐year‐old man suffering from primary cardiac angiosarcoma with spontaneous ruptures of the right atrium and right coronary artery ( RCA ). Theoretically, either of these ruptures invariably results in pericardial effusion and tamponade that is rare but potentially life threatening. In this instance, however, the patient might have developed fibrous adhesions resulted from previous bloody pericardial effusion. A massive pericardial effusion was localized, which consequently prevented cardiac tamponade and hemodynamic collapse. Echocardiography revealed the tumor progression leading to detectable infiltration of solid mass into the right atrial ( RA ) wall, which is close to RCA . And color Doppler displayed the flow into the pericardial cavity through a disrupted RA wall and perforated RCA . Echocardiography remains the primary method of choice for evaluation of cardiac masses.