An unusual case of metastasis of a pulmonary undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma to the right ventricle: a case report

Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma is defined as a pleomorphic high-grade sarcoma whose line of differentiation cannot be determined. These tumors constitute less than 5% of all sarcomas in adults. Cardiac neoplasms are rare, and most are metastatic in origin. More than one-third of cardiac metastases originate from lung cancer. Symptoms of cardiac neoplasms usually appear late in the course of the disease and are often ignored because of the more severe effects of the primary malignancy or its therapy. We present the case of a patient with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung presenting with symptomatic right-heart failure secondary to cardiac metastasis. The purpose of this report is to present this unusual case.

Our patient was a 59-year-old Chinese woman with symptomatic metastasis of an undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung to the right ventricle. She had a history of a stage IV, pulmonary, undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma that had been successfully treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy 4 years ago. A complete response was obtained, and she was in remission until the cardiac metastasis. She underwent surgical excision of the cardiac mass because it caused dyspnea and posed a high risk of sudden death, pulmonary embolism or tricuspid obstruction. Histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations of the surgical specimen established the diagnosis of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma and confirmed that the cardiac tumor was a metastasis from the lung.

In patients who have known metastatic neoplasms and present with cardiac manifestations, whether detected during history taking or physical examination, the clinician should be alert to the possibility of cardiac metastases. In patients with cardiac metastases, the therapeutic alternatives are limited to palliative treatment of symptoms and chemotherapy. In some patients, surgery can be used to relieve symptoms. We have reported the first case of symptomatic cardiac metastases from an undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung. Our patient underwent surgical resection, and her symptoms improved significantly. This case is unique because it is the only reported case of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the lung which metastasized to the heart, and in which symptomatic improvement was effectively obtained with surgical resection.