Primary cardiac extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma: a case report and literature review

Background: Primary lymphomas of the heart are very rare, especially primary cardiac extranodal natural killer/T-cell Lymphoma. Primary cardiac natural killer/T-cell lymphoma has diversified symptoms and the diagnosis is difficult. Case presentation: We have reported a 35 year old man with palpitation, fever and increasing dyspnea. Transthoracic echocardiography was done and showed a large piece of mass. We resected the mass which was in the right atrium. Pathologic examination of removed cardiac tumor had reported as below: non Hodgkin-NK/T cell lymphoma. The patient received surgery, without chemotherapy, and was died on the 27th day after surgery of follow-up. Conclusion: This disease has a quick progression and a poor prognosis. Only surgery couldn’t control primary cardiac natural killer/T-cell Lymphoma very well. Therefore, early detection is becoming more important.