This case highlights the rare occurrence of cardiac metastasis from colorectal cancer and suggests that advanced imaging like MRI may be necessary for evaluating cardiac masses in patients with known malignancies.
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Rare cardiac metastasis from colorectal cancer warrants consideration in patients with known malignancy and cardiac masses; case report leaves open optimal imaging strategies.
The heart is an unusual site of metastasis from any malignancy. We report a case of cardiac metastasis from colorectal cancer. A 70-year-old woman was referred with a presumptive diagnosis of sigmoid colon cancer with cardiac myxoma. Two-dimensional echocardiography showed a 4 cm x 4.5 cm mobile mass on the lateral right atrial wall, and computed tomography revealed a low attenuated lobulating mass in the right atrium. The patient underwent anterior resection for sigmoid colon cancer (T4N2). Thereafter, she experienced progressive shortness of breath. Therefore, a cardiac operation was performed 2 wk after the colorectal operation. Histological examination revealed adenocarcinoma, which was identical to the primary lesion. Although two-dimensional echocardiography has become the diagnostic test of choice for detecting cardiac tumors, in patients with colorectal cancer showing a cardiac mass, further diagnostic evaluation such as a magnetic resonance imaging might be necessary.
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Choi et al. (2009) studied this question.
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