title: Intrapericardial giant lipoma displacing the heart.
abstract: Despite their benign character, intrapericardial lipomas can cause life-threatening complications by rapid growth. This paper presents a case of an intrapericardial lipoma in an almost asymptomatic 41-year-old female patient only suffering from mild dyspnoea on exertion. The tumour was found incidentally by chest X-ray. Echocardiographic examination and a CT scan of the thorax revealed a 16 × 14 × 12 cm lipomatous tumour mass highly suspective of a lipoma. Histological examination of excised tumour specimens confirmed the diagnosis of a lipoma. The patient is currently asymptomatic and has not presented with evidence of recurrence at the 6-month followup.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Innsbruck Medical University, Müllerstraße 44, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Steger