BACKGROUND: Cardiac metastasis including the right ventricle from renal cell carcinoma is rare. No standard treatment for cardiac metastasis and recurrence in renal cell carcinoma has been established.
METHODS: We present the case of a 61-year-old man who underwent the resection of recurrent right ventricular metastasis caused by renal cell carcinoma following molecular targeted therapy. The first cardiac operation was performed for right ventricular metastasis due to renal cell carcinoma. The patient had a good postoperative course. Two years after the first operation, however, follow-up computed tomography revealed the recurrence of the right ventricular tumor and metastases in both lungs. Molecular targeted therapy was carried out and effectively controlled the lung metastasis but the right ventricular lesion remained unchanged, leading to reoperation. The recurrent right ventricular tumor was completely resected through a redo median sternotomy assisted by cardiopulmonary bypass. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course and was discharged on the 13th postoperative day. Follow-ups at 2 years showed no cardiac recurrence.
CONCLUSIONS: Surgical intervention was considered useful in managing the recurrence of right ventricular metastasis from renal cell carcinoma after molecular targeted therapy.

Neuroendocrine neoplasms represent an uncommon disease with an increasing incidence. Thanks to improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, metastases previously considered uncommon, such as bone metastases, or even very rare, such as brain, orbital and cardiac metastases, are more frequently found in daily practice. Due to the great heterogeneity of these neoplasms, there is a lack of high-quality evidence on the management of patients with these types of metastases. The aim of this review is to provide the current state of the art, reviewing neuroendocrine neoplasm specific studies and useful information from other tumor types and to propose a treatment recommendation with algorithms to consider in daily clinical practice.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is a rare type of cancer that is usually discovered at an advanced stage where surgical treatment is not an option. When compared to standard systemic therapy, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) can provide a survival benefit to unresectable patients. Extrahepatic tumor spread is not rare, but cardiac involvement is an unusual complication.We present the case of a 56-year-old man with histologically proven intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Oncologic risk factors include hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis. Being in an unresectable stage of the disease, three TACE procedures were performed. Partial response was achieved (according to RECIST) leading to a 16-month survival. However, disease progression was present, with unusual heart metastases.TACE can bring a survival benefit to unresectable cholangiocarcinoma patients. Defining the best disease stages in which TACE can be implemented and introducing it as part of standard treatment guidelines still presents a challenge.

The heart is a rare site of cancer metastases, even from the most common malignancies, such as lung cancer. Cardiac metastases may lead to myocardial dysfunction. This report presents a case of lung cancer metastases to the left ventricular myocardium that clinically manifested as atypical symptoms of cardiac dysfunction. The metastases were not revealed until after the patient died. Posthumously, the anamnesis, autopsy results, and morphological examination were evaluated. We demonstrated that the atypical symptoms of cardiac dysfunction were caused by occult (undiagnosed) metastases of lung cancer cells to the heart. The doctors did not consider this variant as possible metastatic lung cancer, because the patient had been treated radically one year earlier.
Kalp, akciğer kanseri gibi en yaygın malignitelerden bile nadir bir kanser metastazı bölgesidir. Kardiyak metastazlar miyokardiyal disfonksiyona neden olabilir. Bu raporda, klinik olarak kardiyak disfonksiyonun atipik semptomları olarak kendini gösteren, sol ventrikül miyokardiyuma metastaz yapan bir akciğer kanseri olgusu sunulmaktadır. Metastazlar, hasta ölene kadar ortaya çıkarılmadı. Ölümünden sonra anamnez, otopsi sonuçları ve morfolojik inceleme değerlendirildi. Kardiyak disfonksiyonun atipik semptomlarının, akciğer kanseri hücrelerinin kalbe gizli (teşhis edilmemiş) metastazlarından kaynaklandığı gösterildi. Doktorlar bu varyantı olası bir metastatik akciğer kanseri olarak düşünmediler, çünkü hasta bir yıl önce radikal bir şekilde tedavi edilmişti.

A 30-year-old man with a history of an in-situ melanoma of the forehead was referred for cardiac evaluation because of tachycardia and elevated levels of serum troponin. The transthoracic echocardiogram revealed multiple masses attached to the walls of both ventricles and the right atrium (RA). A large mass was occupying almost one third of the right ventricle (RV), resulting in reduction of the end-diastolic RV volume and tachycardia. A cardiac magnetic resonance imaging confirmed multifocal myocardial infiltration and intracavitary masses and excluded the presence of thrombus in any of the cardiac chambers. Diffuse metastatic involvement in the liver, the spleen, and the brain by computed tomography precluded surgical management. Being BRAF-unmutated, the patient was initially treated with a combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab. One month later, the cardiac metastases in RA and left ventricle were unchanged on echocardiogram, while the tumor in RV was enlarged occupying the majority of the chamber, resulting in further reduction of the cardiac output and tachycardia. The treatment was changed to a combination of dacarbazine and carboplatin, but the patient eventually died two months later. Heart is not a common metastatic site of melanoma and cardiac involvement is usually clinically silent making ante mortem diagnosis difficult. Multimodalidy imaging plays a pivotal role in the diagnostic work up. Cardiac melanoma metastases indicate an advance stage disease with poor prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Notwithstanding the diagnostic and therapeutic advancements, the incidence of cardiac metastases has increased in recent decades. Lung cancers are the most common primary malignant neoplasms with cardiac metastasis potential. The clinical presentation of cardiac metastases is either silent or vague, and largely depends on the infiltrated location and tumor burden. Although arrhythmias are not uncommon in metastatic cardiac tumors, complete heart block is relatively a rare manifestation. We present a case of complete heart block due to a metastatic small cell carcinoma in a 67-year-old male of African origin.
METHODS: A 67-year-old male of African origin from rural Tanzania was referred to us for expert management. He is a retired agromechanic with over 30 years exposure to asbestos-containing brake linings. His past medical history was unremarkable, but the family-social history was evident for a heavy alcohol intake and chronic cigarette smoking. He presented with a 24-week history of progressive shortness of breath and an 8-week history of recurrent syncopal attacks coupled with a significant weight loss. He had normal echocardiographic findings, however, the electrocardiogram showed features of complete heart block. Chest X-ray showed a homogeneous opacification on the right side and computed tomography scan revealed a solid right lung mass with metastases to the liver, heart, bowels, and bone. He underwent bronchoscopy, which revealed an endobronchial mass obstructing the bronchus intermedius. Histological examination of a section of lung biopsy taken during bronchoscopy confirmed the diagnosis of a small cell carcinoma. The patient underwent dual chamber pacemaker implantation with successful sinus rhythm restoration. He made an informed refusal of chemotherapy and inevitably died 18 months post pacing.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the advancements in medical diagnostics and management, lung cancers are often diagnosed in advanced stages, with an inevitable grave prognosis. Small cell carcinoma has the potential to metastasize to the heart, resulting in complete heart block.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer with direct cardiac invasion (LCCI+) exerts a significant influence on the survival of patients. There is a paucity of comparative research into the prognosis of advanced lung cancer with and without direct cardiac invasion.
METHODS: In this study, 50 LCCI+ patients and 50 sex-, age-, and TNM stage-matched patients without direct cardiac invasion (LCCI-) were retrospectively analysed. LCCI+ was defined as lung cancer directly invading the heart by penetrating mediastinum or extending into the atrium via the pulmonary vein. The study endpoint was all-cause death. In this study, the survival time was defined as the time from the first detection of direct cardiac invasion to the end of the event.
RESULTS: During a median follow-up period of 31 months, all-cause death occurred in 44 patients (88.0%) in the LCCI+ group and in 36 patients (72.0%) in the LCCI- group; the overall survival (OS) time among patients in the LCCI+ group was significantly lower compared with those in the LCCI- group (5.0 [interquartile range (IQR), 2.0-12.0] vs 13.8 [IQR, 4.0-18.4] months; p<0.001); the OS rate in the LCCI+ group was significantly lower compared with patients in the LCCI- group (log-rank, p=0.0002). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that direct cardiac invasion was an independent predictor of survival in patients with advanced lung cancer (hazard ratio, 2.255; 95% confidence interval, 1.443-3.524). Further analysis indicated that in patients with small cell lung cancer, the survival rate between the LCCI+ group and LCCI- group was insignificant (log-rank, p=0.075; survival time: 4.0 [IQR, 2.0-11.5] vs 11.5 [IQR, 5.0-18.3] months); in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the survival rate in the LCCI+ group was lower than that of the LCCI- group (log-rank, p=0.01; survival time: 6.0 [IQR, 3.0-13.3] vs 16.3 [IQR, 10.4-27.2] months).
CONCLUSIONS: Direct cardiac invasion from lung cancer was an independent prognostic factor for survival time in patients with lung cancer. Patients with direct cardiac invasion by NSCLC have a poorer clinical outcome than those without direct cardiac invasion. A careful preoperative evaluation is mandatory and appropriate management of cardiac involvement should be considered in the treatment of NSCLC.

Cardiac masses are rare, but remain an important component of cardio-oncology practice. These include benign tumors, malignant tumors (primary and secondary) and tumor-like conditions (e.g., thrombus, Lambl\'s excrescences, and pericardial cyst). The advent of multimodality imaging has enabled identification of the etiology of cardiac masses in many cases, especially in conjunction with information from clinical settings. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, imaging, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of cardiac masses.

暂无摘要。

This study aims to review the various roles and evidence underlying the use of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT and PET/MR for the assessment of cardiac masses.
The role of FDG-PET for the evaluation of cardiac masses continues to evolve. Studies have shown that FDG-PET is particularly well-suited for differentiating malignant from benign cardiac lesions based on their metabolic activity. Furthermore, FDG-PET is uniquely positioned to investigate patients with cardiac mass as most malignant cardiac lesions are metastasis. Finally, FDG-PET enables staging of patients with primary malignant cardiac tumor, identification of potential biopsy site, and planning of radiotherapy. FDG-PET is a complementary tool for the evaluation of patients with cardiac mass and can help differentiate benign from malignant lesions, as well as provide whole-body staging.