CASE REPORT article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardio-Oncology
Case Report:Application of Multimodal Imaging in the Diagnosis and Treatment Evaluation of Primary Cardiac Lymphoma
1. Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
2. Nanjing University Medical School Affiliated Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, China
3. Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
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Abstract
Primary cardiac lymphoma (PCL) is an extremely rare malignancy. This report describes a 76-year-old woman who presented with chest tightness, exertional dyspnea, and nocturnal orthopnea. Multimodal imaging (echocardiography, CT, CMR, PET) was central to the diagnostic process, enabling precise tumor localization, non-invasive tissue characterization, and disease staging, thereby raising strong suspicion for PCL. The diagnosis of primary cardiac diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (non-germinal center subtype) was subsequently confirmed by histopathology. The patient achieved complete remission after five cycles of chemotherapy, which was confirmed on 6-month follow-up imaging, with no recurrence over 65 months of surveillance. This case highlights that multimodal imaging provides complementary information crucial for the comprehensive evaluation of PCL, serving as a cornerstone for evidence-based clinical decision-making throughout the diagnostic and therapeutic continuum, from initial suspicion and staging to treatment response assessment.
Summary
Keywords
Cardiac magneticresonance imaging, computed tomography, Echocardiography, Positron emission tomography-computed tomography, primary cardiac lymphoma
Received
27 October 2025
Accepted
26 January 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Liang and Shi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Jing Liang
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