High-output cardiac failure as a presenting symptom of plasma cell leukemia.

A patient presented with high-output cardiac failure and was found to have plasma-cell leukemia. No cause for the cardiac failure was found, and there was no response to treatment with diuretics and thiamine. Chemotherapy for the leukemia resulted in resolution of the cardiac failure, suggesting that the latter was caused by the leukemia--a hitherto unreported association.