Cardiac masses are rarely seen in clinical practice, and due to ambiguity of their symptoms, they are difficult to diagnose and mostly being diagnosed incidentally. Mostly metastases (secondary tumors) are seen in the heart and they are 20 times more common than primary tumors. Although lymphatic and blood metastases are seen also direct local invasion to the heart may be observed. Imaging techniques are touchstone in detection of cardiac masses, differential diagnosis and treatment plans. Transthoracic echocardiography, trans-esophageal echocardiography, cardiac MRI, cardiac CT provides essential information. In the differential diagnosis location of mass and character of tissue are quite important 63 year-old male patient has admitted to emergency service with complaint of increasing shortness of breath. Imaging methods and lung biopsy revealed small cell lung carcinoma in the patient and he was included in the chemotherapy and radiotherapy program. After treatment PET-CT and transthoracic echocardiography were performed on the patient to evaluate the response to treatment. In this article, we will try to explain the place, advantages and disadvantages of multimodality imaging methods in diagnosis and follow-up.
HTML PDFShare this article
Journal of Oncology Medicine & Practice received 142 citations as per Google Scholar report
