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Giant Cardiac Fibroma: An Unusual Cause of Failure to Thrive

Pediatric Cardiology volume 34, pages 1264–1266 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Cardiac fibromas are extremely rare in the general pediatric population and may present with a wide spectrum of clinical signs, including life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden death. We report a 14-month-old boy who presented with failure to thrive as the only symptom. Echocardiography showed a large cardiac fibroma in the right ventricle. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the diagnosis. After complete surgical tumor resection, the boy showed normal catch-up growth. This case underlines the diversity of clinical features of cardiac tumors, which implies that they should be considered early in the differential diagnosis of infants with failure to thrive.

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Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University Children’s Hospital of Berne, Berne, Switzerland

    Susanne Navarini & Damian Hutter

  2. Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, University Children’s Hospital of Berne, Berne, Switzerland

    Philipp Latzin

  3. Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital of Berne, Berne, Switzerland

    Alexander Kadner

  4. Division of Pediatric Cardiac surgery, University Hospital of Berne, Berne, Switzerland

    Thierry Carrel

Authors
  1. Susanne Navarini
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  2. Philipp Latzin
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  3. Alexander Kadner
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  4. Thierry Carrel
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  5. Damian Hutter
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Correspondence to Damian Hutter.

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Navarini, S., Latzin, P., Kadner, A. et al. Giant Cardiac Fibroma: An Unusual Cause of Failure to Thrive. Pediatr Cardiol 34, 1264–1266 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-012-0374-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-012-0374-9

Keywords

  • Cardiac fibroma
  • Children
  • Failure to thrive
  • Infant