An interesting case of 3‘P’s – Primary Pericardial Primitive neuroectodermal tumor in an infant: A case report

Abstract

Cardiac malignancies presenting in the infancy are rare. Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), a high-grade malignant tumor is one among them. The most common sites of occurrence of primary PNET are the peripheral nervous system, bone, and deep soft tissues. It is extremely rare in the pericardium. To the best of our knowledge, only three patients with primary PNET of the pericardium have been reported so far in the literature. We report a case of primary PNET of the pericardium in a 11-months-old female child, who was referred to our hospital with complaints of dyspnea and difficulty in feeding of 5 days duration. At presentation, she had massive pericardial effusion with tamponade and an echogenic intrapericardial mass. An emergency pericardiocentesis was done to relieve the tamponade. After stabilization, the Computer tomography (CT) imaging of the chest revealed a soft tissue mass with non-enhancing cystic areas in the pericardium with features suggestive of PNET. After two days, the child had a cardiac arrest and succumbed to death.