The Role of CMR Imaging for the Differential Diagnosis of Right-Sided Intracardiac Masses: A Case Report

Abstract

SummaryMaterials and methods: intracardiac masses are described as abnormal structures inside the heart or immediately concerned to the heart [1] and can be classified as a cardiac tumor, metastasis, ,,thrombus in situ"/,,embolus in transit", vegetation or iatrogenic material [2,3]. The precise diagnosis is essential due to the necessity of the expedient well-timed treatment. We report a case of 58 year old woman with recently diagnosed left lung adenocarcinoma, admitted to the emergency department with pulmonary embolism. The case report presented here describes the findings of transthoracical echocardiography that suggested a right atrial mass -thrombus versus embolus. However, the subsequent CMR imaging helped to differentiate a true right atrial mass from a prominent crista terminalis. Conclusions: the cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging is a valuable diagnostic method for the differentiation of the intracardiac masses when the transthoracical and/or transesophagial echocardiography is inadequate in some clinical cases. This noninvasive, cost-effective imaging technique has a larger field of view and differentiates various conditions of the heart therefore the expedient well-timed treatment could be applied.