Resection of primary cardiac angiosarcoma infiltrating the right atrioventricular junction and tricuspid valve: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Primary cardiac tumours are extremely rare. Most of them are benign. Sarcomas account for 95% of the malignant tumours. Prognosis of primary cardiac angiosarcoma remains poor. Complete surgical resection is oftentimes hampered when there is extensive tumour involvement into important cardiac apparatus. We report a case of cardiac angiosarcoma of the right atrium and ventricle, infiltrating the right atrioventricular junction and tricuspid valve. CASE PRESENTATION: Initially, a 22-year-old man presented with dyspnoea. One year later, he had recurrent pericardial effusion. Afterwards, echocardiography revealed a large mass in the right atrium, expanding from the roof of the right atrium to the tricuspid valve. The mass was causing compression on the tricuspid valve, and another mass was seen in the right ventricle. Complete resection of the tumour was impossible. The mass was resected with the biggest possible margins. The right atrium was reconstructed using heterologous pericardium. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful. Postoperative echocardiography showed a small mass remaining in the right side of the heart. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed the diagnosis of angiosarcoma. The patient underwent adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy later on. He survived for 1 year and 5 days after the surgery. After a diagnosis of lung and brain metastases, he ended up on mechanical ventilation for 48 h and died. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical resection combined with postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy is feasible even in patients with an advanced stage of cardiac angiosarcoma when it is impossible to perform complete surgical resection.

A new palliative surgical technique for high risk Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (Sarmast-Takriti shunt).

BACKGROUND: Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection (TAPVC) is a rare heterogeneous condition That accounting for 1.5-3% of congenital heart diseases. It is characterized by failure of the Pulmonary Venous Confluence (PVC) to be directly connected to the left atrium in combination with a persistent splanchnic connection to the systemic venous circulation. The most critical status occurs when it is accompanied by pulmonary venous obstruction. Managing of this situation is very difficult and in fact, pulmonary venous obstruction is usually lethal. The real aim of this study is offering a new palliative surgical technique (Sarmast - Takriti Shunt) in order to alleviate the patient's signs and symptoms until becomes ready for the main surgical correction. CASE PRESENTATION: The study included a 4-day old, low birth weight boy who suffered from Critical Obstructive Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection. The decision was made to perform the new palliative technique using Gore - Tex (ePTFE). Anastomosis was established without Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB) between Pulmonary Venous Confluence (PVC) and the left atrial appendage. Therefore the Sarmast - Takriti Shunt (STS) was taken place. CONCLUSION: After completion of the procedure, the pressure gradient across the venous confluence and the Left innominate vein became zero. Cyanosis, agitation and feeding Problem subsided. Three days later, when he was discharged, arterial oxygen saturation had reached as high as 91%. After 7 months we perfomed the main correction.

Tricuspid Valve Incompetency Due to the Grenade Chip Embolization to the Heart.

Migration of foreign bodies into the heart, although unusual, has been reported since 1834 when Davis published the first bullet embolus. Our case was a 29-year-old woman who suffered from a grenade explosion wound with a residual burst fragment inside her arm soft tissue. Two months later, she was admitted with progressive fatigue, palpitation, shortness of breath, and swelling in legs and neck. She was taking hormonal therapy for infertility as medical history. Ascultation detected holosystolic respiratory variable murmur maximal over the left lower sternal border. Severe tricuspid regurgitation and an obliterating mass on tricuspid valve (TV) with characteristic of central linear echogenicity were detected by transthoracic echocardiography. The diagnosis of "the embolized missile into heart with superimposed thrombosis" was determined. The patient underwent open heart surgery and the thrombotic rod shape chip that was embedded in anterior tricuspid leaflet was removed and then TV was repaired.

Yellow nail syndrome resulting from cardiac mitral valve replacement.

BACKGROUND: Yellow nail syndrome is a rare disease with unknown etiology, Attributed to functional anomalies or disturbance in lymphatic drainage. This condition is characterized by triad of nail discoloration, respiratory or intrathoracic manifestations and lymphedema. CASE PRESENTATION: Twenty days after mitral valve replacement for severe rheumatic mitral valve stenosis, 39 years old woman presented with face tenderness and hearing problems besides stuffy and clogged nose and underwent routin rhinosinusitis therapy. She came back to ears, nose and throat service with persistent rhinosinusitis as well as relapsing preoperative couphs and dyspnea besides lower extremities edema and toenails discoloration. After some modulations of treatment, she was introduced to pulmonary clinic on post -operative day = 30. Chest x ray showed a lot of left pleural effusion then she was returned to our service (cardiac surgery) on post- operative day = 33. The pigtail catheter was secured and we attained a significant amount of milky fluid which conformed with chylothorax. Finally Yellow nail syndrome was diagnosed with her on post-operative day = 35. Early conservative therapy such as bed rest, legs massage, low fat diet with medium chain triglycerides, diuretics, bronchodilator inhaler was not be able to satisfy us (chylous out put > 330 cc/d). Therefore the catheter replacement with chest tube was carried out followed by pleurodesis using Talc and doxycycline besides transition of oral intake to total parentral nutrition and vitamine E supplement, on post - operative day = 41. After that chylous leakage gradually subsided and patient was discharged to home on post- operative day = 47. At 4 weeks follow ups, chest x ray was clear without effusion and nails discoloration and legs lymphedema resolved. CONCLUSION: We reported the third post cardiac surgery Yellow nail syndrome which is an unclear entity with a set of associated signs and symptoms. Two prior reports involved with coronary artery bypass graft whereas we performed mitral valve replacement. In angiogram thoracic duct was not identified so that it seems post cardiac surgery Yellow nail the syndrome has iatrogenic origin due to the thoracic duct or its tributaries injury and requires meticulous assessment and management.