A
44‑year‑old male patient was referred to our department with
unremarkable physical examination and laboratory data due to a mass
which was incidentally found in the
right
atrial during a routine examination. His electrocardiogram displayed a
normal sinus
rhythm
without related symptoms. Transthoracic and transesophageal
echocardiography revealed a 46×30 mm, well-delimited, non-mobile mass
(asterisks) in the superior portion of the right atrium (Fig.1A ). Besides the intracardiac
mass, another low density was detected in adjacent pericardial cavity at
cardiac computed tomography (Fig.1B ); the extracardiac mass
appeared to be caused by invasive growth from the intracardiac mass. An
operation was performed through right anterolateral minithoracotomy with
the patient under hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass. During operation,
it was found that the surface of the right atrium was covered by an
adipose mass (30×40 mm; Fig.2A ). Intracardiac mass also
showed yellow adipose tissue (40×50 mm; Fig.2B ). Both parts of the mass
infiltrated the myocardium. The mass was resected completely; and right
atrium was reconstructed by using bovine pericardium pad. After the
operation, the pathology confirmed the both intracardiac and
extracardiac tissues as lipoma (Fig.3 ); transthoracic echocardiogram
showed the atrial mass was removed completely and the left ventricular
ejection fraction was normal (Fig.4 ). The patient’s postoperative
course was uneventful and he was discharged home after 7 days.