title: An unusual cause of recurrent syncope: Mediastinal lymphoma diagnosed with transesophageal echocardiography.
abstract: Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) rarely presents initially with cardiac symptoms. In this case, its first symptom was a recurrent syncope. The diagnosis of mediastinal tumor was made with transesophageal echocardiography. Considerable compression of the left atrium and superior vena cava without intracardiac growth was a cause of the syncope. Tumor biopsy revealed a diffuse, high-grade, large B-cell NHL. The patient died after four cycles of chemotherapy. To our knowledge, no previous report has demonstrated a syncope as an initial presentation of mediastinal lymphoma not invading the heart.
authors.affiliation: Department of Noninvasive Cardiology, St. Cyril and Method's Hospital, Antolská 11, 851 07 Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Juraj
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dúbrava
authors.forename: L'uboš
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Drgoňa
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kadlečík