EPIPERICARDIAL FAT NECROSIS.

INTRODUCTION

Epipericardial fat necrosis (EFN) is a relatively rare benign disease that causes acute chest pain.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A woman in her 20s presented with acute left shoulder and epigastric pain. One day before presentation, she had visited a cardiologist and an acute coronary syndrome had been ruled out. The pain worsened with deep inspiration. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed a soft-tissue attenuation lesion containing a fatty centre located in the epipericardial fat at the left cardiophrenic angle. Hence, EFN was diagnosed and the pain was resolved with loxoprofen. The lesion had disappeared on a follow-up chest CT scan.

DISCUSSION

EFN is a rare benign disease that causes acute chest pain. Approximately 70-90% of EFN cases are misdiagnosed by clinicians as other diseases.

CONCLUSION

In patients with acute chest pain, the correct diagnosis of EFN avoids unnecessary invasive investigations and reassures patients.

LEARNING POINTS

Patients with epipericardial fat necrosis typically present with acute pleural chest pain without any associated symptoms.Characteristic CT findings of the encapsulated fatty pericardial lesion with a surrounding inflammatory reaction are key for the diagnosis of epipericardial fat necrosis.The correct diagnosis of epipericardial fat necrosis in patients with acute chest pain reassures them and avoids unnecessary invasive investigation.