Febrile Illness in an Infant With an Intracardiac Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor

Abstract

We report a case of a child with a right ventricular inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) who presented with fever, viral symptoms, and abdominal discomfort. Including this case, 49 intracardiac tumors have been previously reported in all age groups. The majority of intracardiac IMTs occur in pediatric patients, with approximately half presenting in children aged <12 months. Intracardiac IMTs are generally described as benign tumors; however, depending on their location, the initial presentation may involve heart failure or sudden death.1 In addition to cardiac signs and symptoms, the clinical presentation of IMTs may also include constitutional signs such as fever, anemia, and elevated inflammatory markers. This case report reviews the diagnosis and management of IMTs, as well as the histopathologic features of this rare tumor type. Clinicians should be aware of their clinical presentation because early diagnosis and treatment can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality.

Cardiac tumours in children: a single-centre experience and literature review

“…56 In addition to myocardial infarction and tumour site derived symptoms, one-third of patients present with constitutional symptoms, such as fever, weight loss, malaise, and unspecific viral respiratory or gastrointestinal viral symptoms. 55,57 Echocardiographically, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours appear as a heterogeneous mass arising from the endocardium. At cardiac magnetic resonance, the mass appears as isointense on T1, hypointense on T2 weight images and demonstrates intense delayed contrast enhancement.…”

Recurrent inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour of the lung: FDG PET/CT scan findings

“…Therefore, the variety of signs and symptoms can be presented by this tumour. Pang et al 11 reported a case of the right ventricular IMT in an 11-month-old infant presented with febrile illness. Oh et al 20 described an IMT in the appendix of an 85-year-old man with the history of gastric cancer.…”

Infant biliary cirrhosis secondary to a biliary inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor: A case report and review of literature

“…Scientists believe that cytogenetic abnormalities play an important role. Apart from its biological characteristics, the discovery that IMT may harbor chromosomal rearrangements at the 2p23 Locus, where the gene site for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is, also firmed the borderline neoplasm property of IMT[ 6 - 8 ]. According to several case reports, approximately 30 kinds of genetic rearrangement have been found in IMT, most of which are ALK fusion genes[ 9 - 12 ].…”