Cardiac xanthoma originating from primary cardiac lymphoma.

Abstract

A 67-year-old man presented with dyspnea, general fatigue, and leg edema. Echocardiography demonstrated a large pericardial effusion with a 5 cm × 3 cm, dense hetero-echogenic tumor in the right atrium. At the time of the operation, the tumor was composed of soft but tough, yellowish, smaller smooth processes, and fragile, reddish, bigger nodules. Pathologic examination revealed that the yellow processes were xanthoma and that the reddish nodules were B-cell lymphoma. This case strongly supports the theory that normolipemic xanthomatosis is a secondary event in the lymphoid tissue neoplasm.