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Updated: Jun 8, 2025

Identifying Coronary Artery Calcification on Non-gated Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: August 28, 2018
Multiple cardiac calcified amorphous tumors with morphologically different characteristics complicated by aortic
Hironobu Sakurai1, Takeshi Someya2, Satoshi Yamamoto2
1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Ome Municipal General Hospital, 4-16-5, Higashiome, Ome City, Tokyo, 198-0042, Japan. sakcvsg@tmd.ac.jp.
Background:
Cardiac calcified amorphous tumors (CATs) are non-neoplastic cardiac tumors of unknown origin and etiology. Several simultaneous CATs rarely occur in multiple cardiac chambers. Although CATs carry a benign prognosis, they have a risk of complications such as systemic embolism.
Case Presentation:
We report the case of a 79-year-old woman with two CATs and aortic regurgitation due to perforations of aortic cusps. She underwent surgical tumor resection with aortic valve replacement. The CATs were macroscopically and histologically different, which may suggest different developmental stages. One CAT was in the left atrium; it was less mobile and had nodular calcifications within dense fibrous tissue. The other CAT was in the left ventricular outflow tract; it was highly mobile, with nodular calcifications surrounded by amorphous fibrin and sanguineous deposits. The highly mobile CAT mechanically damaged the aortic cusps and caused perforations. The patient has survived over 2 years with no recurrence of the cardiac masses on echocardiography.
Conclusion:
The patient underwent surgical resection for two CATs. The tumors occurred in different areas and had different macroscopic and histological characteristics. We recommend early resection for highly mobile CATs because of the high risks of embolization and injuries to the surrounding tissues.
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