Multiple Papillary Fibroelastomas Involving All Four Heart Valves / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) is a rare primary cardiac tumor that usually involves an aortic or mitral heart valve. We encountered a case of a 32-year-old woman, who presented with syncope and was found to have multiple PFEs involving all four heart valves during surgery. The echocardiography was performed and showed two mobile masses near the tricuspid and mitral valves. Moreover, the enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed thickened aortic cusps, which may indicate the possibility of heart tumor. Intraoperatively, we first found multiple tumors at each cusp of the aortic valve, ranging in size from 5 to 10 mm which were excised without injury of aortic cusps themselves. These showed a sea anemone-like appearance and were suspected to represent PFE. We then observed the tricuspid and mitral valves, and both valves showed tumors of similar appearance in each cusp. Furthermore, we found a tumor at the pulmonary valve, even though there had been no evidence of its presence on echocardiography or CT. We confirmed that these masses were PFEs by histological study after the operation. We should keep in mind that PFE can develop in multiple valves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of multiple PFEs involving all four heart valves.

A Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm with Cardiopulmonary Arrest Survived from MOF following Bowel Necrosis / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 61-year-old man fell into out-of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest due to rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, and was resuscitated onsite. On arrival at the emergency room, a fusiform type abdominal aortic aneurysm and massive hematoma in the retro-peritoneal space were detected by ultrasonography. Quickly, an aortic occlusion balloon catheter was placed at the proximal site of abdominal aorta through the left brachial artery, and then graft replacement of the aneurysm was carried out. The inferior mesenteric artery was occluded, and was not reconstructed. Five hours after the operation, left hemi-colectomy was carried out for ischemic necrosis of the descending to sigmoid colon. Although he was complicated by multiple organ failure; renal failure, liver dysfunction, severe infection, and brain infarction, he survived without a fatal disability. A rare case with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm who fell into cardiopulmonary arrest outside the hospital but survived after bowel necrosis and multiple organ failure is reported.