Report of a case of primary cardiac lymphhoma. Review of the literature

We describe a case of primary cardiac lymphoma presenting with chest pain, complete AV block, negative T waves, and infiltration of the basal segments and right free ventricular wall on echocardiography, interpreted initially as hypertrophy. One month later the patient was readmitted with systemic disease and cardiac insufficiency. Futhermore multicentric myocardial infiltration with a nodular mass in the right atrium producing severe tricuspid stenosis was demonstrated. Surgical biopsy was performed and a high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosed. The patient died during the inmediate post-operative period without receiving specific chemotherapeutic treatment. Reviewing the published cases, we found that primary cardiac lymphomas are fast growing tumors that infiltrate predominantly the right cavities and have limited therapeutic options.