Case Report
Diffuse cardiac lymphatic involvement by metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma mimicking hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a case report
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* Corresponding author: Takeshi Kondo kondo@med.kobe-u.ac.jp
Division of Pathology (Diagnostic Molecular Pathology Unit), Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
Cases Journal 2009, 2:9127 doi:10.1186/1757-1626-2-9127
Published: 2 December 2009Abstract
We describe an autopsy case of non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma metastasizing to the myocardium. A 63-year-old Japanese man was admitted to the hospital presenting with dyspnea. Echocardiography revealed marked left ventricular hypertrophy and diffuse myocardial thickening with pericardial effusion. The patient died of heart failure. An autopsy revealed that the whole pancreas, weighing 400 g, was occupied by tumor cells with neuroendocrine differentiation. The heart, weighing 780 g, showed numerous metastatic nodules and diffuse myocardial thickening. Histopathologically, the tumor was diagnosed as non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma. Immunohistochemical analysis for D2-40 disclosed severe lymphatic infiltration of tumor cells, characterized by diffuse thickening of the myocardium.