A case of inverted left atrial appendage mimicking a tumor.
We report a rare case of an inverted left atrial appendage without prior cardiac surgery. A left atrial mass was incidentally found during routine echocardiography in a 19-year-old man with mitral valve prolapse. Echocardiography revealed a hyperechoic mass in the left atrium, and a neoplastic lesion could not be excluded. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), this mass consisted of fat tissue that showed continuation to epicardial fat, indicating an inverted left atrial appendage mimicking a tumor in the left atrium. When a mass in the left atrium is observed on echocardiography, there are several differential diagnoses, including thrombus, vegetation, and intra-atrial neoplasms such as myxomas. Recently, several studies reported cases with inverted left atrial appendages mimicking tumors in patients after cardiac operations. We present a case of inverted left atrial appendage without any prior cardiac surgery. Cardiac MRI was highly useful to obtain the final diagnosis of inverted left atrial appendage.
Motoyasu
Munenobu
M
First Department of Internal Medicine, Mie University School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan. motoyasu@clin.medic.mie-u.ac.jp
Sakuma
Hajime
H
Iwasaki
Hitoshi
H
Onishi
Katsuya
K
Okinaka
Tsutomu
T
Isaka
Naoki
N
Takeda
Kan
K
Nakano
Takeshi
T
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D020517:Atrial Appendage / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004452:Echocardiography; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography