title: Primary cardiac diffuse large B cell lymphoma presenting with superior vena cava syndrome.
abstract: Primary cardiac lymphomas are rare extranodal lymphomas that should be distinguished from secondary cardiac involvement by disseminated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Cardiac lymphomas often mimic other cardiac neoplasms, including myxomas and angiosarcomas, and often require multimodality cardiac imaging, in combination with endomyocardial biopsy, excisional biopsy or pericardial fluid cytology, to establish a definitive diagnosis. A 60-year-old immunocompetent man who presented with superior vena cava syndrome secondary to a right atrial, primary cardiac diffuse large B cell lymphoma (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) is described in the present article. The patient had no clinical evidence of disseminated lymphoma and was successfully treated with prompt surgical excision of his atrial mass, followed by anthracycline-based chemotherapy. The patient required multi-modality cardiac imaging to accurately identify and plan surgical excision of his cardiac lymphoma. The therapeutic management and clinical and radio-logical features of primary cardiac lymphoma are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
authors.forename: Amer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johri
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baetz
authors.forename: Phillip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Isotalo
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sanfilippo
authors.forename: Glorianne
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ropchan
mesh_terms: D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013479:Superior Vena Cava Syndrome / Q000209:etiology*