MULTIPLE CARDIAC LIPOMAS AND SUDDEN-DEATH - A CASE-REPORT AND LITERATURE-REVIEW

We report a unique case of multiple subepicardial lipomas found in a 1 5-year-old girl who died suddenly. This case is, to the best of our kn owledge, unique in several aspects. First, the large lipomas arose ext ensively from the surface of the heart, infiltrating the walls of all four chambers, and the left ventricle was most severely involved. Seco nd, the lipomas were associated with lipomatous hypertrophy of the int eratrial groove. Third, multiple lipomas involved the organs of two sy stems, namely, the heart and the stomach. We speculate that it was fat ty infiltration of the left ventricle that led to ventricular fibrilla tion and sudden death. (C) 1998 by Elsevier Science Inc.