Key result
Cardiac arrhythmias occur in ~11% of bronchial carcinoma cases, all showing necropsy-confirmed atrial invasion.
Why the study?
Cardiac arrhythmias associated with intrathoracic new growths were historically underdiagnosed before necropsy confirmation and their clinical syndromes were not well characterized.
Intrathoracic tumors, such as bronchial carcinoma, can invade the atrium and cause cardiac arrhythmias including sino-auricular block.
Consider atrial invasion in lung cancer patients with arrhythmias; leaves open need for prospective modern validation.
In 1930 Fishberg discussing the clinical syndromes arising from tumours of the heart observed that such tumours were usually asymptomatic: even when symptoms were present, diagnosis before necropsy was never definite.Seven years later eight examples of various cardiac arrhythmias associated with intrathoracic new growths were reported by Van Nieuwenhuizen and Kamerling (1937).Discussing cardiac arrhythmias due to bronchial carcinoma in 1944, Pearson found an incidence of arrhythmias of 10-6 per cent in his series of 66 patients.The diagnosis was proved by necropsy in 51 of these patients, and invasion of the atrium had occurred in each of the patients with an arrhythmia and in one other-an incidence of 12 per cent.
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Paul Rhys Davies (1957) conducted a review in Bronchial carcinoma and cardiac arrhythmias (n=66). Bronchial carcinoma was evaluated on Incidence of cardiac arrhythmias. Among 66 patients with bronchial carcinoma, the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias was reported as 10.6%, with atrial invasion confirmed by necropsy in all patients with an arrhythmia.
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