Sudden death owing to right atrial hemangioma.
Primary cardiac tumors are rare, with an autopsy incidence of 0.03%. Seventy-nine percent to 85% of primary cardiac tumors are benign, and of the benign tumors, cardiac hemangiomas account for 5-10% of cases. Most cardiac hemangiomas are asymptomatic and are discovered incidentally at autopsy, or by echocardiography, computerized tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging. We report a case of sudden death owing to cardiac hemangioma in a 22-year-old woman who collapsed while shopping and became unresponsive. The autopsy revealed a hemorrhagic mass on the surface of the right atrium which was infiltrating and replacing the wall of the right atrium; histopathological examination confirmed the tumor was a cavernous hemangioma. Fewer than 20 cases of right atrial cavernous hemangiomas have been reported in English literature, emphasizing the rarity of our case.
CRY Centre for Cardiac Pathology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, UK.
Junaid
J
Patel
Mary N
MN
Sheppard
D000328:Adult; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology*; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006392:Hemangioma, Cavernous / Q000473:pathology*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans