Left ventricular apical lipoma resected under the guidance of a mediastinoscope

We report a 57-year-old man who was found to have a left ventricular apical mass during a routine check-up. He previously had neither any subjective symptom nor hemodynamic problem. The mass was located deeply in the left ventricular cavity. With exploration using a mediastinoscope, we successfully resected the tumor, which was a yellowish lipoid mass that adhered to the trabeculae near the apex. Histopathologic examination of the tumor was consistent with a lipoma, a very rare benign primary cardiac tumor. The mediastinoscope can be useful for surgical resection of tumors located deeply in the left ventricle.