title: Mediastinal testicular tumor compressing the left atrium in a young male presenting initially with symptoms of left heart failure.
abstract: Extrinsic left atrial compression is an uncommon source of hemodynamic compromise that can be caused by many mediastinal structures including bronchogenic cysts, carcinoma, lymphoma, thymoma, aortic aneurysm and diaphragmatic hernia. We describe an unusual case of a 26-year-old man presenting with symptoms of left heart failure. Transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated extrinsic left atrial compression caused by a metastatic testis non-seminomatous germ cell tumor. Compression of the left atrium caused impaired left atrial filling, leading to pulmonary venous hypertension and pulmonary edema. To our knowledge, the present case is the first reported case of mediastinal metastatic testis non-seminomatous germ cell tumor causing symptoms of left heart failure by externally compressing the left atrium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Sahinbey Medical Center, Gaziantep University, School of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey. drpehlivan@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Yavuz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pehlivan
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sevinc
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.forename: Vedat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Davutoglu
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D055815:Young Adult