Liquid cytology of pericardial effusion is a useful tool for the rapid diagnosis of primary cardiac lymphoma, allowing for timely intervention.
BACKGROUND: Primay cardiac lymphoma is rare, and its diagnosis is not determined until autopsy. CASE: A 49-year-old man presented with heart tamponade and atrioventricular block. Bloody pericardiac effusion showed a monotonous proliferation of atypical large mononuclear cells, which demonstrated a lambda light-chain monoclonality by the fluorescence-activated cell-sorter method and clonal rearrangement bands by Southern blot analysis of the IgH gene. Transvenous biopsy excised from the right atrial tumor was diagnosed as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy and permanent pacemaker implantation and is alive and well. CONCLUSION: Liquid cytology of cardiac effusion was very useful for rapid diagnosis, leading to a better prognosis.
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Chiba et al. (2010) studied this question.
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