AUTHOR=Ahmad Ali , Arghami Arman , El-Am Edward A. , Foley Thomas A. , Kurmann Reto D. , Klarich Kyle W. 

TITLE=Case Report: A Tale of a Cardiac Mass: Looks Like a Papillary Fibroelastoma, Acts Like a Non-bacterial Thromboendocarditis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2021.782926

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2021.782926

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Introduction:</bold> Benign cardiac tumors and tumor like conditions are a heterogeneous collection of mass lesions that vary widely in their characteristics, such as presentation, size, and location. In some instances, these tumors are found incidentally, and therefore a broad differential diagnosis should be considered.</p><p><bold>Case:</bold> An elderly male with significant unintentional weight loss and a high risk for cancer presented with an incidental valvular cardiac mass. The mass was thought to be a non-bacterial thromboendocarditis on initial clinical evaluation. After multiple imaging modalities, the mass was suspected to be a papillary fibroelastoma (PFE), which was resected due to high stroke risk and multiple previous chronic infarcts on brain MRI.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> This case highlights the need for a comprehensive cardiac evaluation of a valvular tumor to discern the etiology and rule out other underlying pathophysiological processes that may require alternative interventions to cardiac surgery.</p>