Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum: a commonly misdiagnosed mass often leading to unnecessary cardiac surgery

Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum is a benign cardiac mass that should be considered as part of the differential diagnosis for any atrial cardiac tumour. In the reported case, this lesion was initially suspected to be malignant and the patient was thus referred directly to cardiac surgeons for surgical removal. Unnecessary surgical intervention was swiftly averted because the cardiac surgeon promptly referred the patient for an expert echocardiogram that confirmed the diagnosis of lipomatous hypertrophy. The authors discuss the characteristic features of this lesion and how the diagnosis may be made based on several noninvasive imaging modalities without the need for a tissue biopsy. This condition is more common than initially thought and remains under-recognised by most clinicians. In such cases an increased awareness of this lesion along with the opinion of a specialist echocardiologist would help to avoid a misdiagnosis and unnecessary intervention.