Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the lung presenting with pneumonia and heart rhythm disturbances in a teenage girl.
The epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is a rare low-grade tumor of vascular origin that may arise at any site. However, lung and liver represent the 2 main locations. Symptoms of the pulmonary EHE are usually nonspecific and mild. Distant metastases of PEHE are frequent. However, heart metastases have only been reported in connection with primary EHE of the liver. We describe the case of a 15-year-old girl presenting with an abscess forming pneumonia and severe rhythm disturbances associated with an EHE of the lung. The untypical fulminant clinical course, the surgical interventions, and the involvement of the heart as a life threatening complication, eventually on the basis of cardiac metastases of PEHE, are emphasized.
Reich
Susanne
S
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany. susanne.reich@charite.de
Ringe
Hannelore
H
Uhlenberg
Birgit
B
Fischer
Berit
B
Varnholt
Verena
V
D000293:Adolescent; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D018323:Hemangioendothelioma, Epithelioid / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis