Case Report

Fatal cardiac tamponade due to coronary sinus thrombosis in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: a case report

Sohei Kitazawa¹ , Riko Kitazawa¹ , Takeshi Kondo¹ , Kiyoshi Mori¹ , Toshimitsu Matsui² , Hiroshi Watanabe³ and Makoto Watanabe³

¹  Division of Diagnostic Molecular Pathology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan

²  Division of Haematology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan

³  Faculty of Health Sciences, Kobe University School of Medicine, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Suma-ku, Kobe 654-0142, Japan

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Cases Journal 2009, 2:9095doi:10.1186/1757-1626-2-9095

Published:	27 November 2009

Abstract

We report a rare case of fatal cardiac tamponade attributed to coronary sinus thrombosis. An 83-year-old man was admitted to the hospital complaining of general fatigue. Laboratory examination revealed marked increase of atypical lymphoblastic cells in peripheral blood. CHOP therapy was started under the diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The patient died, however, of sudden cardiac arrest in the initial course of the chemotherapy. Autopsy revealed cardiac tamponade with markedly dilated and congested coronary vein induced by coronary sinus thrombosis. A condition similar to leukemia-related venous thromboembolic disease, combined with endothelial damage induced by leukemic infiltration, may cause this rare complication.