title: Malignant lymphoma of the heart in acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
abstract: Malignant lymphoma of the heart was found at autopsy of two homosexual men with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Both patients had symptoms and signs of cardiac dysfunction, and it is likely that the immediate cause of their deaths was related to the cardiac tumors. In both cases, there was lymphomatous involvement of other organs, but the heart was the predominant site of disease. There was prominent endocardial and myocardial involvement, and both tumors were high grade large cell lymphomas with plasmacytoid features. In both instances, the lymphomas were diagnosed only at the autopsy, despite extensive antemortem cardiac evaluation in one patient. The clinicopathologic correlation, gross pathologic and histologic findings of the tumor, and their pattern and distribution suggest a de novo origin of the lymphoma in the heart in these two patients. Lymphomatous infiltration of the heart should be suspected in patients with AIDS who have cardiac symptoms.
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000473:pathology*; D004699:Endocardium / Q000473:pathology; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*