Abstract
Tumors rarely arise in the heart or pericardium, and malignant tumors are even more infrequent. If they arise in the heart or infiltrate the myocardium, total resection is difficult, and their prognosis is poor. The treatment of a patient with epicardial primary synovial sarcoma is reported. A 65-year-old man presented at another hospital complaining of precordial pain, and, since acute coronary syndrome was ruled out, he underwent detailed examination at a later date. Computed tomography (CT) showed a tumor on the inferior cardiac surface, and the patient was referred to our hospital 2 weeks after initial presentation. On admission to our department, the symptoms of epigastric pain, nausea, and hypotension rapidly worsened. This was considered to be due to cardiac tamponade caused by bleeding from the cardiac tumor, and emergency surgery was performed, both to save the patient's life and to control the bleeding. The cardiac tamponade was relieved, and as much of the cardiac tumor as possible was resected. This was a case in which a sudden deterioration in the patient's condition made determination of the treatment strategy difficult.
