Case Report: A Tale of a Cardiac Mass: Looks Like a Papillary Fibroelastoma, Acts Like a Non-bacterial Thromboendocarditis

Introduction: Benign cardiac tumors and tumor like conditions are a heterogeneous collection of mass lesions that vary widely in their characteristics, such as presentation, size, and location. In some instances, these tumors are found incidentally, and therefore a broad differential diagnosis shoul...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ali Ahmad, Arman Arghami, Edward A. El-Am, Thomas A. Foley, Reto D. Kurmann, Kyle W. Klarich
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2021.782926/full
Description
Summary:Introduction: Benign cardiac tumors and tumor like conditions are a heterogeneous collection of mass lesions that vary widely in their characteristics, such as presentation, size, and location. In some instances, these tumors are found incidentally, and therefore a broad differential diagnosis should be considered.Case: An elderly male with significant unintentional weight loss and a high risk for cancer presented with an incidental valvular cardiac mass. The mass was thought to be a non-bacterial thromboendocarditis on initial clinical evaluation. After multiple imaging modalities, the mass was suspected to be a papillary fibroelastoma (PFE), which was resected due to high stroke risk and multiple previous chronic infarcts on brain MRI.Conclusion: This case highlights the need for a comprehensive cardiac evaluation of a valvular tumor to discern the etiology and rule out other underlying pathophysiological processes that may require alternative interventions to cardiac surgery.
ISSN:2297-055X