title: Asymptomatic course of a metastatic mass completely filling the right atrium in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Intracardiac involvement rarely develops in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its prognosis is poor. Patients generally have symptoms of sudden dyspnea or massive lower extremity edema and the clinical course may be further complicated by many fatal cardiovascular complications. Absence of cardiac symptoms or findings, however, is an unusual condition. We present a 61-year-old man with HCC who was incidentally found to have an intracavitary mass completely occupying the right atrium. He had no cardiac complaints, nor any signs of cardiac involvement. The mass was first detected by computed tomography and then confirmed by transthoracic echocardiography. The patient underwent a successful surgical resection and the histopathologic diagnosis was HCC. Unfortunately, the postoperative course was complicated by the development of acute kidney failure and, despite hemodialysis treatment, the patient died of kidney failure eight days after the operation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey. tanerulus@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Taner
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ulus
authors.forename: Alparslan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Birdane
authors.forename: Emine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dündar
authors.forename: Bülent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tünerir
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004452:Echocardiography; D006325:Heart Atria; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis