A primary osteosarcoma of the heart as a cause of recurrent peripheral arterial emboli.

The case of a 66-year-old woman with a primary cardiac osteosarcoma is described. These distinctly rare malignant tumors arise preferentially in the left atrium. Clinically, they often present symptoms of both, intramural and intracavitary neoplasm in addition to general weakness, recurrent breast pain, and dyspnea. As shown in the present case, with growing intracavitary tumor masses the risk for peripheral arterial including cerebral embolism increases. Consequently, in most patients with symptoms of systemic arterial embolism of unknown origin performance of transesophageal echocardiography seems advisible, which is presently the most convenient noninvasive imaging method to exclude or to identify intracardiac sources of emboli, irrespective of their type.