Clinical Image
Presentation and Treatment of Massive Intra pericardial Lipoma
Viggiano D, Bongiolatti S, Voltolini L and Gonfiotti A*
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Careggi University Hospital, Italy
*Corresponding author: Alessandro Gonfiotti, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Careggi University Hospital, Firenze, Italy
Published: 14 Jul, 2018
Cite this article as: Viggiano D, Bongiolatti S, Voltolini L,
Gonfiotti A. Presentation and Treatment
of Massive Intra pericardial Lipoma.
Clin Surg. 2018; 3: 2017.
Clinical Image
A 67 year old man was referred to our department for a severe dyspnea of unknown origin. Physical examination revealed: pulse rate 76 bpm, blood pressure of 143/76 mm of Hg. Normal ECG. The chest X-ray (Figure 1A) and echocardiography revealed a huge mass occupying the pericardial space. CT scan of thorax confirmed the presence of an intra pericardial homogenous mass measuring 27 cm × 23 cm, extending into left lung field with marked loss of lung volume and no direct infiltration of heart and great vessels (Figure 1B and 1C). The mass had similar signal intensity as fat and there was no associated lymphadenopathy (Figure 1B and 1C). After complete functional evaluation the patient underwent surgery (Figure 1D and 1E), when a large mass growing in pericardial space was confirmed and successfully removed (Figure 1F). Histopathological evaluation of the mass confirmed the diagnosis as benign lipoma.
Figure 1
Figure 1
A: Chest Rx, B: thorax CT scan, C: sagittal reconstruction of thorax CT scan, D: view of the lesion after
clamshell incision, E: view of the lesion after pericardial incision, F: large lipoid mass extracted from pericardium.