Primary cardiac carcinosarcoma is a rare cardiac tumor, and little is known
about its natural history. We treated a man who had no evidence of a cardi
ac mass at initial echocardiography, but 19 months later he had a large bia
trial tumor with left ventricular inflow obstruction. Only palliative resec
tion could be achieved. Four months postoperatively extensive tumor recurre
nce was found, and he died a month later. Histologic examination showed cel
ls with features of both rhabdomyosarcoma and adenocarcinoma, and the tumor
was classified as a primary cardiac carcinosarcoma. (C) 2001 by The Societ
y of Thoracic Surgeons.