REPORT OF A CASE OF PRIMARY CARDIAC LYMPH HOMA - REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

We describe a case of primary cardiac lymphoma presenting with chest p ain, complete AV block, negative T waves, and infiltration of the basa l segments and right free ventricular wall on echocardiography, interp reted initially as hypertrophy. One month later the patient was readmi tted with systemic disease and cardiac insufficiency. Futhermore multi centric myocardial infiltration with a nodular mass in the right atriu m producing severe tricuspid stenosis was demonstrated. Surgical biops y was performed and a high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosed. The patient died during the inmediate post-operative period without recei ving specific chemotherapeutic treatment. Reviewing the published case s, we found that primary cardiac lymphomas are fast growing tumors tha t infiltrate predominantly the right cavities and have limited therape utic options.