Primary pericardial synovial sarcoma with detection of the chimeric transcript SYT-SSX

We report a case of a 19-year-old woman with a primary pericardial synovial sarcoma that extended from the right ventricular free wall to the posterio r aspect of the left anterior thoracic wall, Synovial sarcoma was diagnosed by the detection of the chimeric transcript SYT-SSX using reverse transcri ptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This transcript is generated by r eciprocal translocation between chromosomes X and 18, and is specific to sy novial sarcoma that usually occurs in the extremities of young adults. When pathological and immunohistochemical diagnosis of synovial sarcoma is diff icult, the molecular biological technique using RT-PCR becomes a powerful m ethod of confirmation of this neoplasm.