Heart masses, including tumors (primary and secondary) and pseudotumor (cysts and thrombus), are rare entities, but of increasing interest in cardiac imaging areas. The clinical manifestations are related to the intracardiac effect of mass, embolization, and systemic symptoms in the case of tumors; however, some of them are detected incidentally. Nowadays, imaging techniques and the advancement of their tools perform the morphological, functional, and tissue characterization of the masses, and additionally know the anatomical relationships, which are crucial factors for the treatment and surgical planning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough uncommon, Libman-Sack endocarditis is the most characteristic cardiac manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). It forms vegetations made of inflammatory tissue on the cardiac valves, leading them to malfunction. Here we present a case of a young woman who presented with severe mitral valve regurgitation in need for a valve replacement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present the case of a patient with myocardial infarction and COVID-19 disease who developed hemorrhagic pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. The differential diagnosis included post-infarction pericarditis and mechanical complications, thrombolysis, Dressler syndrome, and viral pericarditis. The histopathologic examination of the pericardial tissue sample and electron microscopic examination established the diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInteract Cardiovasc Thorac Surg
August 2020
Benign primary cardiac tumours are rare, with lipomas accounting for <9% of them. Their presentation varies depending on the size and location of the tumour, with the majority of the cases being asymptomatic. We are presenting a case of an extremely rare primary heart-tumour infiltrating the right ventricle (RV) compromising its function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalignant primary tumors of the heart are among the most unusual forms of cancer. Cardiac malignancy accounts for about 20% of all primary cardiac tumors, with most arising from the atria and less frequently the ventricles; very unusual locations include the great vessels and the cardiac valves. A rare case is presented of a young female that arrived at the authors' emergency room in pulmonary edema and circulatory collapse secondary to a true tumor of the mitral leaflets that caused severe mitral valve stenosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by the presence of an abnormal hypertrophy of the left ventricle (LV), without dilation, and in the absence of any condition or another cardiac or systemic disease capable of inducing such hypertrophy. This primary or idiopathic hypertrophy can occur with or without dynamic obstruction (induced by exercise) of the LV outflow tract, so in its natural history two fundamental aspects are highlighted: the production of symptoms by blocking the LV outflow tract and the occurrence of sudden cardiac death secondary to ventricular arrhythmias. This revision includes the work of different Iberoamerican investigators, who contributed in an important way to lay the groundwork of what we know nowadays as HCM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Progress in radiology and pathology for diagnosing mediastinal tumors has R been made in recent decades, thanks to the use of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) guided by computed tomography, which has replaced mediastinoscopy and open biopsies.
Case: A 66-year-old male had a history o productive coughing with mucopurulent expectoration, progressive dyspnea, arthralgias, myalgias, astenia and adynamia for the previous 3 months. A CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a poorly limited tumor mass ofheterogeneous den sity in the anterior mediastinum.