Case of the week 08-11: Right Atrial Lipoma

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Case of the week 08-11 Right Atrial Lipoma
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History A 37 yr ? had an echocardiogram for
chest pain showing a possible mass (figure 1) in
the right atrium. CMR was performed to further
characterise this. CMR A well circumscribed,
ovoid mass (3x3x2cm) in the right atrium along
the free wall (figure 2). This area appears
hyper-intense on images obtained using T1
weighted turbo SE sequences (figure 3a).
However, there is signal suppression in this
area, as well as abdominal adipose tissue, when
fat saturation sequences are applied (figure 3b).
These findings are higly suggestive of a lipoma.
No invasion of the atrial wall is
noted. Perspective Cardiac MR offers excellent
differentiation of suspected cardiac masses via
tissue characterisation as well as their
relationship to adjacent structures. A cardiac
lipoma can be easily identified due to its
typical T1 relaxation time and signal suppression
with fat saturated sequences. There has been no
further treatment of this incidental finding
given that there is no arrhythmia or hemodynamic
compromise.
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3a
3b
Ali Z. Merchant, John Hibbeln and Clifford J
Kavinsky. Rush University Medical Center,
Chicago, IL, USA.
Handling editor Mark Westwood