Background: Tumors of the heart, including Hemangiomas, are rare compared to other cardiac diseases. Their clinical symptoms vary from absent to nonspecific. The great variations and general paucity, or absence, of symptoms related to cardiac tumors, as hemangiomas, often result in delayed diagnosis and treatment. Hemangiomas can be presented as a family disorder, and may involve multiple organs. As a result of recent advances in imaging technology, including the use of echocardiography, cardiac tumors have become easier to detect, and very often, are found unexpectedly.
Objectives: To raise awareness of the existence of cardiac tumors, and the contribution of simple imaging modalities, during routine medical check-up.
Methods and Materials: A 19 year old healthy male student asked to be examined, in order to renew his permit that allows him to exercise in a gym. The results of his physical examination were within the normal limits, and he was sent to an ECG (according to the sports' law). As a midsystolic click was heard over the left sternal border, he was instructed to undergo an echocardiography.
Results: The echocardiogram demonstrated a space occupying lesion of 16mm in the left ventricle. The patient then had an open heart surgery that revealed a cardiac hemangioma, which was excised. The post-operation course was uneventful. An ultra-sound examination of the upper abdomen revealed a Hemangioma in the left lobe of the liver. After the operation he told us of his father, who died suddenly at the age of 46, after hemoptysis.
Conclusion: This case demonstrates the clinical importance of imaging of the heart, during incidental routine check-up, even when signs and symptoms are rare, especially when a family history or hemangiomas exists in other organs.
