CASE REPORTS  CARDIAC PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 1999 February;40(1):131-3

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Left ventricular rhabdomyoma. A case report

Stellingwerff G. C., Hess J., Bogers A. J. J. C.

From the Departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery and * Pediatric Cardiology, University Hospital Sophia/Dijkzigt/Daniel, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Background. Car­diac ­tumours in ­infancy are ­rare, ­with a pre­dom­i­nant inci­dence of rhab­dom­yoma. Diag­nosis can ­best be ­obtained by pre-cor­dial and trans­oe­soph­a­geal ech­o­car­di­og­raphy. ­Because of the ten­dency for spon­ta­neous regres­sion con­ser­va­tive ­therapy is gen­er­ally rec­om­mended. A ­rare indi­ca­tion for sur­gical treat­ment is ­described.
Methods. Experi­mental ­design: ­case ­report. Set­ting: Pedi­atric car­di­ology and car­diac sur­gery in a uni­ver­sity hos­pital. ­Patient: a ­case of a rhab­dom­yoma of the ­left ven­tricle is ­described ­which was ­attached to the ­left ven­tric­ular out­flow ­tract and the ­left cor­o­nary ­cusp of the ­aortic ­valve, ­causing out­flow obstruc­tion of the ­left ven­tricle. Inter­ven­tion: the ­tumour was ­removed sur­gi­cally ­using car­di­o­pul­mo­nary ­bypass. Meas­ure: achieve­ment of ­relief of ­left ven­tric­ular out­flow obstruc­tion.
­Results. Imme­diate and com­plete ­relief of the ­left ven­tric­ular out­flow ­tract was ­achieved ­with pres­er­va­tion of the ­aortic ­valve. The ­patient recov­ered ­well.
Con­clu­sions. Car­diac rhab­dom­yomas can usu­ally be ­treated con­ser­va­tively. Sur­gical ­therapy can be suc­cess­fully ­applied ­when rhab­dom­yoma ­results in hemo­dy­namic prob­lems or arrhyth­mias.