title: Haematogenous metastases after complete resection of primary cardiac sarcoma from the left atrium.
abstract: Primary cardiac sarcomas are rare entities. If left untreated or partially resected, cardiac sarcoma usually shows rapid local recurrence and causes obstruction of mitral flow, leading to a poor prognosis. Notwithstanding these grave clinical presentations, little is known about whether this tumour will spread haematogenously. Here, we report two cases of left atrial sarcomas removed by radical excision with wide tumour-free margins. Patient 1 and patient 2 showed no intracardiac recurrence at 6 and 9 months, respectively, after the operation, but they showed distant metastases in the brain, adrenal glands, and bone. These two cases indicate that cardiac sarcoma might have already caused distant haematogenous micro-metastasis at the time of the operation.
authors: Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors: Ming-Hsien
authors: MH
authors: Lin
authors: Hsi-Yu
authors: HY
authors: Yu
authors: Shoei-Shen
authors: SS
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed