Aortic valve papillary fibroelastoma.
Cardiac papillary fibroelastoma (CPF) is a rare primary benign cardiac tumor. Before the use of echocardiography, the lesion was identified at autopsy or incidentally during cardiac surgery. CPF is the third most common primary cardiac tumor after atrial myxoma and lipoma, and is the most common tumor of the valvular endothelium. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) permit diagnosis of the tumor in living patients. CPF may be the cause of cerebrovascular or cardiac ischemia due to embolization or occlusion of the vascular ostia. Embolic material may arise from fragments of the tumor itself, or from surrounding thrombus. The case is reported of a patient with CPF of the aortic valve in whom TEE diagnosis was conducted and the tumor removed surgically.