Multiple Papillary Fibroelastomas Involving All Four Heart Valves

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 245 - 249
• Main Authors: Ando, Mizuki, Kise, Yuya, Maeda, Tatsuya, Inafuku, Hitoshi, Yamashiro, Satoshi, Kuniyoshi, Yukio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Society for Cardiovascular Surgery 15.07.2019
• Subjects: cardiac tumor; multiple; papillary fibroelastoma
• ISSN: 0285-1474; 1883-4108
• DOI: 10.4326/jjcvs.48.245

Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) is a rare primary cardiac tumor that usually involves an aortic or mitral heart valve. We encountered a case of a 32-year-old woman, who presented with syncope and was found to have multiple PFEs involving all four heart valves during surgery. The echocardiography was performed and showed two mobile masses near the tricuspid and mitral valves. Moreover, the enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed thickened aortic cusps, which may indicate the possibility of heart tumor. Intraoperatively, we first found multiple tumors at each cusp of the aortic valve, ranging in size from 5 to 10 mm which were excised without injury of aortic cusps themselves. These showed a sea anemone-like appearance and were suspected to represent PFE. We then observed the tricuspid and mitral valves, and both valves showed tumors of similar appearance in each cusp. Furthermore, we found a tumor at the pulmonary valve, even though there had been no evidence of its presence on echocardiography or CT. We confirmed that these masses were PFEs by histological study after the operation. We should keep in mind that PFE can develop in multiple valves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of multiple PFEs involving all four heart valves.