PAPILLARY FIBROELASTOMA OF THE AORTIC-VALVE PRESENTING WITH MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

We describe the case of a 56-year-old woman who presented with myocard ial infarction. Noninvasive and invasive investigations revealed coron ary embolism from a papillary tumor attached to the right coronary cus p of the aortic valve as the underlying process. The tumor, which hist ologically proved to be a papillary fibroelastoma, was excised surgica lly and the resulting defect in the aortic valve leaflet was closed wi th a patch of autologous pericardium, effectively reconstructing the a ortic valve. The current literature on intracardiac papillary fibroela stoma as a source of embolism and its surgical treatment is summarized .