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Cardiac papillary fibroelastoma: experience of an institution

Primary intracardiac tumors are rare, with prevalence between 0.0017% and 0.19% from non-selected autopsy studies. Approximately 75% are benign and almost half of them are myxomas. The remaining tumors are divided among rabdomyomas, lipomas and fibroelastomas. Myxomas are the most common intracardiac tumors in adult age and rabdomyomas the most common among pediatric population. Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) is a relative rare benign heart tumor, corresponding to approximately 8% of intracardiac tumors. They most commonly manifested in cardiac valves¹. In the past, they either consisted of necropsy findings or were found in surgical procedures at random. In vivo diagnosis was sporadic². With the improvement of echocardiography techniques, PFE has been more frequently diagnosed. They are usually described as a movable, pedunculate, well-delimited mass and with predilection for valve endocardium. Therapeutic proposal, when they are pedunculate, is surgical resection, preventing cerebral, pulmonary, coronary or peripheral embolic phenomena1,3. Five cases diagnosed in our institution, in the period from August 1995 to June 2004, will be presented


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