Successful surgical resection of a metastatic clear cell sarcoma in the heart: a case report.

Background: Clear cell sarcoma (CCS) is a very rare disease and one with a very poor prognosis. Furthermore, its occurrence in the heart is very rare and past reports are scarce. Case summary: A 33-year-old man who had undergone left arm amputation due to CCS came to the hospital because a positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) four years post-amputation showed an accumulation in the heart. The PET-CT with glucose suppression treatment showed fluorodeoxyglucose accumulation in the myocardium between the middle of the anterolateral wall and the papillary muscle of the posterior lateral wall of the left ventricle (LV). Based on the course of the disease up to now, it was considered that the accumulation was most likely metastasis of CCS. Observation of the heart after a median sternotomy revealed a white tone, well-defined lesion in the middle of the anterolateral wall of LV. The tumour on the posterolateral side of LV was not exposed on the surface, but it was palpated and was still recognizable as a firm neoplastic lesion. Because the mass was identified as a sarcoma on intraoperative rapid pathology, we decide to perform a total resection. Both lesions were excised, and pathology revealed a diagnosis of CCS. Discussion: Clear cell sarcoma is a very rare disease that accounts for <1% of all soft tissue sarcomas, and its occurrence in the heart is even rarer. It requires a combination of many imaging modalities. To our knowledge, this is the first case of CCS in the heart treated with surgical resection.

A mid-ventricular variant of Takotsubo syndrome: was it triggered by insular cortex damage?

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a transient cardiomyopathy that is often associated with cerebrovascular diseases. Earlier studies have supported the concept that the cardiovascular system is regulated by a central autonomic network (CAN) consisting of the insular cortex (IC), anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala. We report the case of a 79-year-old female diagnosed with a mid-ventricular variant of TTS concomitant with right IC ischaemic stroke. After 12 h of hospitalization, she experienced a sudden collapse. Rapid cardiopulmonary resuscitation resulted in a return of spontaneous circulation. Subsequent left ventriculography revealed akinesis in the mid-portion of the left ventricle with vigorous contraction of the basal and apex segment. Two weeks after admission, cardiac ultrasound showed improved left ventricular contraction. Right IC ischaemia in this patient might have been associated with a dysregulation of the CAN and subsequent increased sympathetic nervous system activity that triggered TTS.

Early drop in systolic blood pressure, heart rate at admission, and their effects on worsening renal function in elderly patients with acute heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Regardless of patients' baseline renal function, worsening renal function (WRF) during hospitalization is associated with poor outcomes. In individuals with acute heart failure (AHF), one predictor of WRF is an early drop in systolic blood pressure (SBP). Few studies have investigated WRF in elderly AHF patients or the influence of these patients' heart rate (HR) at admission on the relationship between an early SBP drop SBP and the AHF. METHODS: We measured the SBP and HR of 245 elderly AHF inpatients (83 ± 6.0 years old, females 51%) at admission and another six times over the next 48 h. We defined 'WRF' as a serum creatinine increase ≥0.3 mg/dL by Day 5 post-admission. We calculated the 'early SBP drop' as the difference between the admission SBP value and the lowest value during the first 48 h of hospitalization. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the 36 patients with WRF and the 209 patients without WRF: early SBP drop (51 vs. 33 mmHg, p < 0.01) and HR at admission (79 vs. 90 bpm, p < 0.05), respectively. In the multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for the confounders, higher early SBP drop (p < 0.04) and lower HR at admission (p < 0.01) were significantly associated with WRF. No significant association was shown for the interaction term of early SBP drop × HR at admission with WRF. CONCLUSIONS: In these elderly AHF patients, exaggerated early SBP drop and lower HR at admission were significant independent predictors of WRF, and these factors were additively associated with WRF.