Bulum Josko, Banfić Ljiljana, Strozzi Maja, Aurer Igor, Jelasić Drazen
Department of Internal Medicine, University Clinic of Cardiovascular Diseases, Clinical Medical Centre Rebro, Kispatićeva 12, 1000, Zagreb, Croatia.
Heart Vessels. 2007 Jan;22(1):52-4. doi: 10.1007/s00380-006-0924-2. Epub 2007 Jan 26.
Primary cardiac lymphoma is extremely rare. We present the case of a 70-year-old man with primary cardiac lymphoma involving interatrial septum, presenting as atrial flutter and total heart block. The diagnosis was obtained by echocardiography-guided transvenous endocardial biopsy which revealed diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, CD 20+. After six courses of immunochemotherapy the patient achieved complete remission. After 2 months he developed a series of epileptic attacks. Intracerebral lymphoma extension was diagnosed. Two cycles of high-dose methotrexate and cranial irradiation were applied, resulting in a second complete remission.