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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;132:690-691
© 2006 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Brief Communication

Capillary hemangioma of the aortic valve: False preoperative diagnosis of endocarditis

^a Department of Cardiac Surgery, "Maggiore della Carità" Hospital, Novara, Italy
^c Department of Cardiology, "Maggiore della Carità" Hospital, Novara, Italy
^b Department of Medical Sciences, Unit of Pathology, University School of Medicine, Novara, Italy

Received for publication April 15, 2006; accepted for publication May 3, 2006.

^_* Address for reprints: Mario Vivirito, MD, U.O. Cardiochirurgia, Azienda Ospedaliera "Maggiore della Carità," Corso Mazzini 18, 28100 Novara, Italy (Email: mvivirito@libero.it).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Drs Vivirito and Teodori

Cardiac hemangiomas, although histologically identical¹ to those localized elsewhere in the body, are rare. In a classic autoptical review by McAllister and colleagues,² they represent only 2.8% of primary tumors and cysts of the heart and pericardium. Probably because cardiac valves are essentially avascular structures, valvular hemangiomas are even rarer. To the best of our knowledge, up to March 2006, only 7 valvular hemangiomas have been reported in the English literature, all arising from tricuspid or mitral valves. The case we report is the first one located in the aortic valve.

Clinical Summary

An 81-year-old man was referred from an outside hospital to our department with a history of recent onset of thoracic pain, effort dyspnea, and moderate fever. A computed tomographic scan showed no signs of aortic dissection. A transesophageal echocardiogram showed a moderate aortic insufficiency, with a little mass attached to the noncoronary cusp (Figure 1). Coronary angiography demonstrated only a negligible lesion . . . [Full Text of this Article]