Enlarging Epicardial Cardiac Hemangioma: Serial Multimodality Imaging and Pathologic Correlation

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Cardiac Pathology
• Surgical Oncology

Background:

• Cardiac hemangioma is a rare, benign cardiac tumor often found incidentally.
• Symptoms may include dyspnea, angina, or arrhythmias, necessitating diagnostic imaging.
• Multimodality imaging is crucial for tumor delineation and management decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a case of cardiac hemangioma managed conservatively with serial imaging.
• To illustrate the progression of cardiac hemangioma over 15 years.
• To discuss the eventual surgical management of a symptomatic cardiac hemangioma.

Main Methods:

• Serial imaging including echocardiography, CT, and MRI was utilized.
• Conservative management with close monitoring was initially employed.
• Surgical resection was performed due to tumor growth and associated symptoms.

Main Results:

• The cardiac hemangioma demonstrated significant size increase over a 15-year period.
• The patient developed symptoms including dyspnea and angina.
• Successful surgical resection of the cardiac hemangioma was achieved.

Conclusions:

• Long-term imaging surveillance is valuable for monitoring cardiac hemangioma growth.
• Surgical intervention may be necessary for symptomatic or significantly growing cardiac hemangiomas.
• Cardiac hemangioma, though benign, requires careful management and follow-up.