Fatty infiltration of a stenotic aortic valve: an unusual histopathologic finding.

Abstract

Aortic valve tissue excised during stenotic valve replacement surgery commonly exhibits histopathologic changes including prominent calcification of variable severity. We present briefly a case of a 78-year-old man with aortic valve stenosis and coronary artery disease undergoing aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting. After pathologic examination of excised tissue, the aortic valve was determined to have nodular calcification and myxoid degeneration, as well as evidence of prominent, contiguous fatty infiltration of the valve's spongiosa layer. Although osseous and chondroid metaplasia have been described within excised cardiac valves, a significant constituent of adipose tissue contiguous through the length of a valve and not representing a discrete mass-forming, neoplastic lesion has been only described in isolated case reports.