Incidental finding of an adult intracardiac teratoma

Abstract

We reported an exceedingly rare adult case of intracardiac teratoma with a bicuspid aortic valve. A small mass was discovered in the right ventricle of a 37‐year‐old man by accident after he was referred to our hospital due to chronic chest distress and aggravated palpitation. We performed a surgical exploration with excision of the lesion after a repeat transthoracic echocardiography suggested a space‐occupying lesion in the interventricular septum. A mature cystic teratoma was pathologically confirmed. During the half‐year follow‐up, no symptoms were reported. This case constitutes the first report of the smallest primary intracardiac teratoma in an adult with a bicuspid aortic valve.

Surgical treatment of intracardiac teratoma in a 66 years-old man. Case report

“…The myocardium, however, is a rare location. Thoracic computed tomography is superior to the EKG because it can detect tissue calcification inside the intracardiac mass and confirm the presence of myocardial and pericardial involvement 1,6 . The definitive treatment is surgical, and involved mass excision 1 .…”

“…Pericardial teratomas are often diagnosed incidentally, rare, and often benign 4 . Intracardiac teratomas are extremely rare in any age group 3,4,6 . This was the case of a patient diagnosed with an intracardiac mature teratoma at the age of 66 who had remained completely asymptomatic, which is an extremely rare case worldwide.…”

“…The thoracic computed tomography is considered superior to the echocardiogram because it can detect tissue calcification within the intracardiac mass and provide a better view of myocardial or pericardial damage 1,6 . In this case, the coronary computed tomography angiography revealed the presence of a 40 mm × 35 mm RV calcified mass in the interventricular septum.…”

Commentary: A case of the double rarities

“…In this month′s issue, Tao et al 1 present an interesting and rare case of cardiac pathology in an adult found to have a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) in conjunction with a mature cystic teratoma. Individually, each entity is exceedingly rare with the reported incidence of 1% for BAV and 0.02% for primary cardiac tumors 2,3 .…”