Heart metastases from gastric sarcoma. A case report.

Cardiac involvement by metastatic gastric sarcoma is a rare event. We describe an unusual case of gastric sarcoma involving the heart in a 29-year-old man who presented with heart failure. The diagnosis was made at two-dimensional echocardiography. Heart metastases prolapsing into and obstructing the mitral valve orifice were located in the left atrium. In an attempt to excise the left atrial mass, the patient underwent heart surgery twice. The resections were non-curative. The patient died of refractory heart failure 9 months after the onset of symptoms. This case report is an example of a secondary intracavitary tumor that causes obstruction of the mitral valve orifice. Two-dimensional echocardiography has been confirmed as the examination of choice for the early diagnosis of cardiac tumors.