title: Cardiac rhabdomyoma. Rare cause of fetal death.
abstract: Two cases of nonimmune hydrops fetalis and fetal death associated with cardiac rhabdomyoma are reported. Case 1 presented with fetal supraventricular tachycardia, and cardiac rhabdomyoma was accurately diagnosed by fetal echocardiography. Autopsy revealed multiple rhabdomyomata involving the right atrial free wall, the sinoatrial node, and the left ventricle. The left circumflex coronary artery was extrinsically compressed by adjacent tumor tissue, causing left ventricular myocardial infarction. Case 2 had a unique, pedunculated, ball-like rhabdomyoma that almost totally occluded the mitral orifice. The causes of fetal death in patients with cardiac rhabdomyoma are analyzed and the possibility of fetal surgical management is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital, Boston.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Geva
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santini
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pear
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Driscoll
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Van Praagh
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000209:etiology*; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000473:pathology; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015160:Hydrops Fetalis / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D012207:Rhabdomyoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology