Cardiac myxoma with glandular elements metastatic to the brain 12 years after the removal of the original tumor.

This report describes a case of cardiac myxoma with glandular elements metastatic to the brain. The histological appearance of the brain tumor was characterized by irregularly shaped glands lined by a single layer of mucous-secreting cells. The glands rested on a stroma made of connective tissue with myxoid changes in which short cords of cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm were occasionally detected. The cardiac tumor was a myxoma in which only 2 small glandular structures were identified. Immunohistochemically, the gland-lining cells were positively stained by cytokeratin AE1-AE3, CAM 5.2, and B 72.3. CEA was detected as a thin layer on the luminal surface of the cells and in the cytoplasm of goblet cells. The myxoma cells in the stroma were not stained by cytokeratins. This is the first report of brain metastases from a cardiac myxoma made of glandular elements.