A 67-year-old female presented with a 1-year history of exertional dyspnoea. Echocardiography
showed a mass in the right atrium. Surgery revealed a lipoma on the interatrial septum,
near the superior cavoatrial junction. This was excised leaving the atrial septum
intact. Histopathology confirmed a benign lipoma. The patient improved symptomatically
after surgery and no recurrence was seen after 1 year.
These rare masses are the accumulation of mature adipose tissue, arising from the
subepicardial layer. Due to benign pathology and slow growth, right atrial lipomas
may be resected without interatrial septum resection, avoiding the potential complications
of more radical surgery.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 22,
2008
Received in revised form:
April 15,
2008
Received:
August 19,
2007
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
