title: Pulmonary vein mass with extension to the left atrium diagnosed by echocardiography.
abstract: We report a case of a man aged 65 years presenting with chronic cough, haemoptysis and intermittent atrial tachyarrhythmias on ECG. On 2D transthoracic echocardiography, an incidental left atrial mass was seen, initially thought to be a thrombus predisposed by intermittent atrial fibrillation. Transoesophageal echocardiography confirmed that this left atrial mass originated from a fixed, non-homogenous, right superior pulmonary vein mass with an extracardiac extension. Because of this finding, a thorough search for a primary focus lead to the discovery of a contiguous posterior mediastinal mass, which was a round cell neoplasm on histology. Management was deemed palliative. Although rare, left-sided cardiac masses should prompt the physician to search for a malignancy in the lung in high-risk patients, as haematogenous spread via the pulmonary vein is a potential mechanism for spread.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Jezreel Labrador
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Taquiso
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Jaime Alfonso Manalo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Aherrera
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Jose Donato
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Magno
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.
authors.forename: Eric Oliver
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Sison
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009383:Neoplasms, Vascular Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011859:Radiography