==== Front Ann Card AnaesthAnn Card AnaesthACAAnnals of Cardiac Anaesthesia0971-97840974-5181Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd India 30052227ACA-21-31910.4103/aca.ACA_248_17Interesting ImageSurgical Treatment of Atrial Septum Lipomatous Hypertrophy Associated with Syncopal Attacks Ampatzidou Fotini Koutsogiannidis Charilaos-Panagiotis Cheva Aggeliki Vasiliadis Konstantinos Drossos George Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, G. Papanikolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, GreeceAddress for correspondence: Dr. Fotini Ampatzidou, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, G. Papanikolaou General Hospital, Exohi, 57010, Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail: fampatzidou@gmail.comJul-Sep 2018 21 3 319 320 Copyright: © 2018 Annals of Cardiac Anaesthesia2018This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.Lipomatous hypertrophy of atrial septum (LHAS) is a rare benign cardiac condition characterized by fatty tissue infiltration located in the atrial septum. We presented a rare case of LHAS resulting in recurrent syncopal attacks. Cardiac surgerylipomatous hypertrophy of atrial septumsyncopal attacks ==== Body Introduction Lipomatous hypertrophy of atrial septum is a rare heart disorder with the typical feature of non-encapsulated hypertrophic fatty mass located into atrial septum sparing the membrane of fossa ovalis. Interesting Image A 77-year old overweight female (body mass index of 27.7 kg/m2), and a history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia reported episodes of transient, self-limited loss of consciousness over the previous 2 years.[1] Diagnostic investigation included 24-h Holter test and chest X-ray without remarkable findings.[2] She also underwent transthoracic echo study followed by transesophageal echocardiography, which revealed a large interatrial mass arising from the atrial septum and the right atrial roof [Figure 1]. Superior vena cava (SVC) and right upper pulmonary vein (RUPV) appeared to be partially obstructed. SVC was dilated while Doppler study revealed turbulent flow in RUPV at the right atrium inflow level. Ejection fraction was normal [Figure 2]. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 3.6 cm × 3.6 cm × 5 cm mass compressing SVC. Both studies suggested the diagnosis of lipomatous hypertrophy of atrial septum (LHAS) [Figure 3]. Finally, on coronary angiogram, no critical stenosis was observed. Figure 1 Transesophageal echocardiography study: large mass arising from atrial septum and sparing fossa ovalis (RA: right atrium, LA: left atrium) Figure 2 Transesophageal echocardiography Doppler study: turbulent flow through right upper pulmonary vein Figure 3 Microscopic pathologic findings with characteristic mixture of fat cells: (a) Masson's trichrome stain × 200: normal fat cells (black arrow), hypertrophied myocytes or Purkinje fibers (red arrow) and vacuolated or brown fat cells. (b and c) H and E, ×200. (d) H and E, ×40 Differential diagnosis includes lipoma (encapsulation is against LHAS), myxoma (not sparing the fossa ovalis), and liposarkoma characterized by neoplastic features.[134] Surgical treatment was mainly decided because of repetitive life-threatening syncopal episodes. A right atriotomy was performed, and the interatrial mass was resected, followed by pericardial patch repair of the atrial septum. Histopathology study from mass tissue samples confirmed the diagnosis of LHAS. The postoperative course was uneventful, and no arrhythmias were recorded during her ICU and high dependency unit stay. She is also free of syncopal attacks a year after her cardiac operation. Declaration of patient consent The authors certify that they have obtained all appropriate patient consent forms. In the form the patient(s) has/have given his/her/their consent for his/her/their images and other clinical information to be reported in the journal. The patients understand that their names and initials will not be published and due efforts will be made to conceal their identity, but anonymity cannot be guaranteed. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest. ==== Refs 1 Prior JT Lipomatous hypertrophy of cardiac interatrial septum. A lesion resembling hibernoma, lipoblastomatosis and infiltrating lipoma Arch Pathol 1964 78 11 5 14148742 2 Heyer CM Kagel T Lemburg SP Bauer TT Nicolas V Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum: A prospective study of incidence, imaging findings, and clinical symptoms Chest 2003 124 2068 73 14665481 3 Shirani J Roberts WC Clinical, electrocardiographic and morphologic features of massive fatty deposits (“lipomatous hypertrophy”) in the atrial septum J Am Coll Cardiol 1993 22 226 38 8509546 4 Breuer M Wippermann J Franke U Wahlers T Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum and upper right atrial inflow obstruction Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2002 22 1023 5 12467835