title: [Cardiac fibrosarcoma discovered by cerebral metastases].
abstract: Primary heart tumors are rare, and the fibrosarcomas are exceptional. We present the findings in a 78 year old female who has been hospitalized in April 1997 with a history of 4 months of malaise, headaches and weight loss. Clinical examination showed a right lateral homonymous hemi-anopsia. Computed tomography (CT-Scan) of the brain showed two lesions in the occipital and temporal lobe, consistent with metastasis. Thoracic and abdominal-pelvic CT-Scan revealed a voluminous mass of the left auricle that has been interpreted as a probable sarcoma. Biopsy specimen of one of the cerebral lesions, performed at the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV) on April 29th 1997, revealed fragments of a poorly differentiated sarcoma. After referral back to Neuchâtel, the patient suffered suddenly three weeks later from a cerebral vascular insult with instant onset of deep coma. She deceased on May 27. At autopsy we found a neoplastic lesion of the left auricle with invasion of the pulmonary veins. The histological appearance is similar to the appearance of the cerebral metastasis, showing a proliferation of spindled cells with a partial positivity for Vimentine. It was classified as a fibrosarcoma. Metastasis were found only in the brain with postoperative ischemic left occipitotemporal necrosis and neoplastic emboli.--We are discussing the various incidences of cardiac neoplasms in autopsies or biopsies.
authors.affiliation: Institut neuchâtelois d'anatomie pathologique, Hôpital de La Providence, Neuchâtel.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guelpa
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Janzer
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chaubert
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Baumann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D001706:Biopsy; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary*; D003128:Coma / Q000209:etiology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005354:Fibrosarcoma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary*; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
vernacular_title: Fibrosarcome cardiaque découvert par métastases cérébrales.