Lipoma across the wall of the right atrium

Wei Fan1, Bin Liao1, Xin Li1

  • 1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China.

Insights

A rare case of cardiac lipoma, a benign fatty tumor, was successfully removed from a patient's right atrium and pericardium. Surgical resection via minithoracotomy ensured complete tumor removal and a full recovery.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Cardiac Surgery
  • Pathology

Background:

  • Incidental diagnosis of a right atrial mass in a 44-year-old male.
  • Routine examination revealed an asymptomatic cardiac anomaly.

Observation:

  • Echocardiography identified a 46x30mm well-delimited, nonmobile mass in the right atrium.
  • Cardiac CT showed an invasive extracardiac mass in the pericardial cavity, contiguous with the intracardiac mass.

Findings:

  • Surgical exploration revealed both intracardiac and extracardiac adipose masses infiltrating the myocardium.
  • Histopathology confirmed both masses as lipomas.
  • Complete surgical resection was achieved using right anterolateral minithoracotomy and hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.
  • Right atrial reconstruction was performed with a bovine pericardium graft.

Implications:

  • Complete resection of cardiac lipomas, even those with extracardiac extension, is feasible and curative.
  • Minimally invasive surgical techniques can be employed for complex cardiac tumor removal.
  • Successful management leads to favorable patient outcomes with normal cardiac function post-operatively.

Keywords:
heartlipoma

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