Isolated Intracavitary Metastatic Esophageal Cancer of the Right Atrium and Right Ventricle

(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Fujisawa City Hospital, Fujisawa, Japan and Department of Surgery, Yokohama City University*, Yokohama, Japan)

Ichiya Yamazaki Hiromasa Yanagi Motohiko Goda
Shin-ichi Suzuki* Munetaka Masuda*
We report a rare case of isolated intracavitary metastatic esophageal cancer of the right atrium and ventricle. A 67-year old woman had been treated for esophageal carcinoma for three years. Combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy had been performed, and partial remission had been achieved. Recent follow up computed tomography of the chest revealed intracavitary cardiac mass in her right atrium and right ventricle. On echocardiography a mobile, irregularly shaped large mass was detected in her right atrium. She was admitted for emergency operation. We resected the mass under cardiopulmonary bypass. The pathological examination revealed intracavitary metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. She was discharged on the 29th postoperative day. Six months later, she died from multiple metastases of squamous cell carcinoma. Even though the operation was not curative, it might have been effective for preventing tumor embolism to the lung and elongating life expectancy.
  Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 40:310-313(2011)

Keywords:cardiac metastasis, esophageal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma