Abstract 10115: Unique Imaging Morphology and Rare Location of Papillary Fibroelastoma Resulting in a Cardioembolic Stroke

Abstract

Clinical Presentation: Afro-Caribbean female, age 59, with a comorbidity of hypertension presented with acute painless right-sided vision loss. Brain MRI revealed numerous scattered T2/FLAIR hyperintense foci throughout the periventricular, deep, and subcortical white matter, which were favored to represent chronic microvascular ischemic changes. CTA of the head and neck demonstrated mild atherosclerotic calcification of the cavernous segment of the left internal carotid artery without significant stenosis, mild noncalcified atherosclerotic plaque at the right carotid bifurcation, and mild irregularity and narrowing of the mid basilar artery. Cardiac Imaging: Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE) demonstrated severe concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, left ventricle ejection fraction 60-65%, and a mobile, intracavitary mass measuring 1.60cm x 1.59cm. Repeat TTE estimated the mass to be 1.8cm x 1.2cm in the region of the posteromedial papillary muscle. Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) redemonstrated a mobile left ventricular mass measuring 2.0cm x 1.8cm along the inferior wall of the interventricular septum. Left heart catheterization demonstrated nonobstructive coronary artery disease with a 30% stenosis of the proximal Right Coronary and Distal Circumflex. Patient underwent surgical removal of the cardiac mass, biopsy-proven to be a Papillary Fibroelastoma (PFE). Discussion: PFEs account for 7.9% of all primary benign cardiac tumors and are the most common valvular tumor. More than 80% of these tumors are attached on the aortic or mitral valve, unlike in this patient where it was attached to the left ventricular trabeculae without involvement of the mitral valve or sub-valvular apparatus. The classic appearance of PFEs on TTE is pedunculated and often compared to a sea anemone but appeared homogenous in nature with central vacuolization in this case. This made characterizing the mass as a thrombus or cardiac tumor challenging.