Intracardiac metastasis from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACT

Cardiac metastasis from head and neck cancer is an extremely rare and devastating condition with an abysmal prognosis. Most of our knowledge about this condition is from case reports and series. We present a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsils that was complicated by embolic stroke and critical limb ischemia that were found to be secondary to intracardiac metastasis. We believe that this condition is under-reported; hence, we conducted a thorough review of the literature to highlight the characteristics and previous therapeutic experiences with various presentations of cardiac metastasis from head and neck carcinoma. Clinicians are encouraged to report their experience with evaluating and managing this type of metastasis.