Surgical treatment of a left ventricular neurofibroma

Primary cardiac neurofibroma is a rare occurrence. We describe a case of left ventricular neurofibroma in a 56-year-old woman with Von Recklinghausen disease. Resection of the tumor with concomitant mitral valve replacement yielded a satisfactory clinical result, and histological examination of the resected tissue confirmed benign neurofibroma. The anatomic distribution of the vagus nerve plexus, which penetrates the epicardium and myocardium and courses over the left ventricular subendocardial surface, provides a tissue source from which this neurogenic tumor may arise.