Full text report. Also available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s41935-020-00207-1
Primary cardiac tumours arising from smooth muscle cells are said to be very rare in the literature. Primary leiomyoma of the heart particularly in men is extremely rare. To the best of my knowledge, there are only two reported cases of boys with primary leiomyoma of the heart in the English literature. Most of leiomyoma tumours involving the heart reported in the literature are a result of cardiac extensions of intravenous leiomyomatosis through the inferior vena cava.Case presentation: A case of left ventricular primary leiomyoma in a 74-year-old male is reported. He had no known previous history of heart disease but he died suddenly and unexpectedly. At autopsy, the heart measured420 gm and when it was opened, a solid tumour of size 4 × 3 × 2 cm involving the lower left ventricle on the anterior aspect of the heart was found. The tumour was extending to the left ventricular septum and was growing by protruding into the left ventricle chamber which finally was confirmed histopathologically to be a leiomyoma. Conclusion: Cardiac benign tumours are rare and can be life threatening because of embolization following their detachment which is manifested clinically by stroke. Additionally, they are clinically asymptomatic; therefore, they cannot be easily detected. In case of clinical suspicion, echocardiography and other imaging diagnostic tests should be used to confirm presence of a tumour.