J Korean Med Sci.  2002 Aug;17(4):549-551. 10.3346/jkms.2002.17.4.549.

A Case of Secondary Myocardial Lymphoma Presenting with Ventricular Tachycardia

• Cho JG
• Ahn YK
• Cho SH
• Lee JJ
• Chung IJ
• Park MR
• Kim HJ
• Jeong MH
• Park JC
• Kang JC

• KMID: 1109767
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2002.17.4.549

Abstract

Malignant lymphoma can involve the cardiac cavity or myocardium as a mass. Clinical symptoms of its cardiac involvement are usually absent or nonspecific, making the diagnosis of the cardiac involvement very difficult before death. We experienced a patient with secondary myocardial non-Hodgkin's lymphoma presenting with sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) as a primary clinical problem. A 39-yr-old woman visited our hospital because of dyspnea and palpitation for 7 days. Physical examination revealed rapid heart beat with variable intensity of the first heart sound and soft mass in the lower abdomen. VT with a cycle length of 480 msec was recorded in resting 12-lead electrocardiogram. Two well-circumscribed hypo-echogenic round masses were demonstrated in the interventricular septum and left ventricular posterior wall. Cytological examination of aspirated pericardial fluid and percutaneous needle biopsy of the abdominal mass revealed a diffuse large cell type non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Myocardial masses and ventricular tachycardia resolved with chemotherapy using cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine and prednisone regimen. To our best knowledge, the same case as ours has not been reported previously.

Keyword

Lymphoma; Malignant; Tachycardia; Ventricular

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Neoplasms/secondary
Adult
Biopsy, Needle
Bundle-Branch Block
Echocardiography
Electrocardiography
Female
Heart Neoplasms/*pathology
Humans
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/*complications/diagnosis/*pathology
Myocardium/*pathology
Tachycardia, Ventricular/*etiology/physiopathology