Syncope and Cardiac Tamponade: Multimodality Imaging of Primary Cardiac Lymphoma

Virginia Serra; Francesco De Luca; Ketty Savino; Maurizio Del Pinto; Claudia Castellani; Paola Fiaschini; Laura Tomasello; Claudio Cavallini

doi:10.4103/jcecho.jcecho_109_20

Syncope and Cardiac Tamponade: Multimodality Imaging of Primary Cardiac Lymphoma

J Cardiovasc Echogr. 2021 Jan-Mar;31(1):42-44. doi: 10.4103/jcecho.jcecho_109_20. Epub 2021 May 21.

Authors

Virginia Serra¹, Francesco De Luca¹, Ketty Savino¹, Maurizio Del Pinto², Claudia Castellani², Paola Fiaschini³, Laura Tomasello⁴, Claudio Cavallini²

Affiliations

¹ Cardiology and Cardiovascular Physiopathology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
² Department of Cardiology, Perugia Hospital, Perugia, Italy.
³ Department of Radiology, Perugia Hospital, Perugia, Italy.
⁴ Anatomy and Pathological Hystology, Perugia, Italy.

Abstract

Primary cardiac lymphoma (PCL) is among the rarest heart neoplasms. Its estimated incidence is about 1%-2% among primary cardiac tumor and 0.5% of extranodal lymphoma. It usually causes heart failure, pericardial effusion, tamponade, and arrhythmias. Prognosis is poor; treatment is combined medical and surgical. We described the case of a 62-year-old male with PLC that presented with syncope and cardiac tamponade, submitted to R-CHOP therapy because of failure of surgery. Clinical state is stable 3 months after diagnosis and first chemotherapy cycle.

Keywords: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography; cardiac magnetic resonance; chest computed tomography; primary cardiac lymphoma; syncope; tamponade; transthoracic echocardiography.

Publication types

Case Reports