Primary intimal sarcoma of the left atrium: an incidental finding on routine echocardiography

• Main Authors: Gautam Valecha, Dhaval Pau, Nikhil Nalluri, Ying Liu, Farhan Mohammad, Jean Paul Atallah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2016-11-01
• Series: Rare Tumors
• Subjects: Intimal sarcoma; mesenchymal tumor; rare; incidental; aggressive
• Online Access: http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/rt/article/view/6389
• ISSN: 2036-3605; 2036-3613

Cardiac sarcomas are extremely rare primary malignant tumors of the heart. In this article, we present the case of a 70-year-old female, who was found to have a left atrial mass during a routine outpatient transthoracic echocardiography. Further investigation with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the presence of a bilobulated mass with heterogeneous enhancement. Left atrial myxoma was the first diagnostic consideration, followed by other primary cardiac tumors, and thrombus. The patient subsequently underwent resection of the mass, utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass. Upon pathological examination, the mass was found to be an intimal sarcoma. The objective of this report is to describe a case of this rare disease entity, and to discuss its presentation, pathological findings and management.