Angiosarcoma of the heart causing cardiac rupture: a rare cause of hemopericardium.

Abstract

Cardiac rupture as a complication of primary cardiac tumors has rarely been reported in the literature. The diagnosis is difficult to establish preoperatively, but echocardiography may provide the best assessment of cardiac damage. We found a loculated pericardial effusion on two-dimensional echocardiography, a finding that has been documented in two of the previous four case reports. A case of right atrial rupture is reported with review of other cases from the literature.