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Intracardiac fibroma in an asymptomatic infant
A C Tahernia1, J T Bricker, D A Ott
1Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Stormont-Vail Regional Medical Center, Topeka, KS 66604-1353.
Insights
A rare, large cardiac fibroma in a one-year-old infant was successfully removed surgically. This benign tumor in the right ventricle did not obstruct blood flow and has not recurred in 29 months.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Cardiac Surgery
- Pediatric Oncology
Background:
- Primary cardiac tumors are rare in infants and children.
- Cardiac fibromas represent a small subset of these rare tumors.
- Symptomatic presentation is common, often due to obstruction.
Abstract:
Primary tumors of the heart are rare in infancy and childhood. A one-year-old, asymptomatic, male infant with unimpressive physical findings in whom an echocardiogram demonstrated a large, encapsulated, solid fibroma filling the right ventricle without obstruction of either the inflow or outflow tract is presented. Successful complete surgical excision of the tumor was accomplished. The histological examination was compatible with a benign fibroma. The infant has remained asymptomatic postoperatively with subsidence of the heart murmur. He has not shown any evidence of recurrence of the tumor during a follow-up period of 29 months. This represents an unusual case of a huge right ventricular fibroma and only the fifth youngest patient, to our knowledge, to undergo successful surgical removal.