Val-Bernal J Fernando, Val Daniel, Garijo M Francisca
Department of Anatomical Pathology, Medical Faculty, Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, University of Cantabria, ES-39008 Santander, Spain.
Cardiovasc Pathol. 2005 Sep-Oct;14(5):280-2. doi: 10.1016/j.carpath.2005.04.004.
Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) of the right ventricle is a rare lesion. This tumor has not been described in the heart of a cardiac transplant recipient.
We report a 42-year-old woman suffering from chronic ischemic cardiopathy who underwent an orthotopic cardiac transplantation. Five years after surgery, the control two-dimensional echocardiography showed no abnormalities. At this time, the programmed endomyocardial biopsies of the right ventricle included a 2-mm lesion that was diagnosed as PFE. To our knowledge, only a previous case of this tumor has been detected at random in a control cardiac biopsy. Differential diagnosis includes chordae tendinae removed at the time of cardiac sampling, Lambl excrescence, and myxoma.
PFE can arise in a cardiac transplant recipient and may be detected on a random programmed biopsy.
