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Updated: May 22, 2026

Benefits of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy in an Asynchronous Heart Failure Model Induced by Left Bundle Branch Ablation and Rapid Pacing
Published on: December 11, 2017
Complete heart block as a complicating feature of a mediastinal lymphoma
Vanda Cristina Jorge1, Vera Bernardino, Ana Carolina Araújo
1Department 2, Curry Cabral's Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal. vandacristinajorge@gmail.com
Abstract:
Malignant lymphomas represent about 9% of cardiac neoplasms. Despite its life-threatening nature, the cardiac manifestations are often subclinical. In about 20% of deaths from lymphoma, cardiac involvement is found only in autopsy. The authors present the case of a 77-year-old female admitted due to intense back pain, vomiting, generalised pruritus, fatigue and weight loss. She had a personal history of hypertension and breast cancer was noted 10 years before admission. The thoracoabdominopelvic CT showed a mass in the left atrium with extension to the right atrium and inferior vena cava, and a paravertebral mass at D10-D11 with invasion of the spinal canal and hepatic hilum. The transthoracic paravertebral mass biopsy was compatible with a diffuse large B cell lymphoma. The patient developed a complete atrioventricular block, with haemodynamic instability, requiring urgent chemoreduction of the paracardiac mass and implantation of an epicardial pacemaker.
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