Key result
Refractory, unexplained arrhythmias in cancer patients signal an increased likelihood of cardiac metastasis.
Why the study?
Unexplained arrhythmias refractory to usual therapy in patients with primary malignant lesions may indicate cardiac metastasis, but the pathogenesis is not well characterized.
Unexplained refractory arrhythmias may suggest cardiac tumors; leaves open prospective validation with modern imaging.
THE clinical bases of ante-mortem diagnosis of tumors of the heart are discussed in several excellent reviews.1 2 3 That such a diagnosis is sometimes of more than academic significance is proved by increasingly frequent reports of successful surgical removal of certain cardiac tumors.4 5 6 One of the clinical bases for diagnosis of a cardiac tumor is the occurrence of otherwise unexplained arrhythmias that are refractory to usual therapy and vary in type. If these events occur in a patient known to have a primary malignant lesion, the likelihood of cardiac metastasis increases. This is especially true of tumors that are known to . . .
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James et al. (1959) conducted a review in Metastatic tumors of the heart and associated arrhythmias. The occurrence of otherwise unexplained, refractory arrhythmias in patients with a known primary malignant lesion increases the likelihood of cardiac metastasis.
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