The role of MDCT in the diagnosis of primary pericardial tumours: a case report and review of literature.

A Aggarwal,A K Gupta,A Kapoor Aggarwal

doi:10.1259/bjrcr.20150028

Abstract

Primary pericardial tumours are very rare and are hence not usually part of our differential diagnosis, especially since they have non-specific signs and symptoms. While chest radiography remains the most common initial imaging investigation in the assessment of suspected cardiothoracic pathology, the diagnostic yield for assessing pericardial lesions is limited, often necessitating the need for further assessment with echocardiography, CT scan or MRI. We present a case of an adult male patient with an incidental primary pericardial tumour diagnosed during the routine imaging assessment of suspected pulmonary infections. After proper formulation of diagnosis, the patient was managed accordingly for pulmonary pathology and discharged on recovery. Over the years, with advancement and widespread increase in use of multidetector CT and MRI, diagnosing primary pericardial tumours has become easier. MRI has now become the modality of choice for imaging of pericardial tumours because of its better soft-tissue contrast resolution.

Highlights

Primary pericardial tumours are very rare and are not usually part of our differential diagnosis, especially since they have non-specific signs and symptoms
We present a case where the patient presented with similar non-specific symptoms, which were found most likely not to be directly related to the presence of primary pericardial tumour
The finding of a primary pericardial tumour was incidental to our patient’s clinical presentation, it resulted in a diagnostic dilemma, which in the absence of cross-sectional imaging assessment might have been misdiagnosed

Summary

Introduction

Primary pericardial tumours are very rare and are not usually part of our differential diagnosis, especially since they have non-specific signs and symptoms. While chest radiography remains the most common initial imaging investigation in the assessment of suspected cardiothoracic pathology, the diagnostic yield for assessing pericardial lesions is limited, often necessitating the need for further assessment with echocardiography, CT scan or MRI. We present a case of an adult male patient with an incidental primary pericardial tumour diagnosed during the routine imaging assessment of suspected pulmonary infections. After proper formulation of diagnosis, the patient was managed for pulmonary pathology and discharged on recovery. With advancement and widespread increase in use of multidetector CT and MRI, diagnosing primary pericardial tumours has become easier. MRI has become the modality of choice for imaging of pericardial tumours because of its better soft-tissue contrast resolution

Results

Discussion

Conclusion