Case report: a non-invasive approach to diagnosis and management of pericardial haemangioma

Abstract

Background Pericardial hemangiomas represent a very rare subset of benign cardiac tumor in an unusual location, posing a diagnostic and clinical challenge. Historically, the definitive diagnosis was achieved through surgical resection or at biopsy. In recent years, multiparametric cardiac MRI has proven to offer a noninvasive, biopsy-like approach to tumor characterization. Case summary In our case, multimodality imaging was used to characterize a pericardial mass as a hemangioma discovered coincidentally with a brain glioma. Diagnostic certainty was substantially improved through utilization of successive postcontrast bright-blood imaging at cardiac MRI, demonstrating a characteristic enhancement pattern of hemangiomas in direct comparison to the blood pool. Conservative management and mid-term follow-up showed an uneventful clinical course and partial regression of the presumed pericardial hemangioma. Discussion In the presence of typical features and application of individually tailored protocols, multimodality imaging can characterize cardiac tumors and guide patient management so that more invasive measures may be avoided. In our case of a suspected pericardial hemangioma, a conservative strategy was adopted with clinically uneventful course over a two-year period. Whether this strategy can be applied to other patients with this rare tumor remains unclear, but the case report provides important information about the natural history of this entity and tissue characterization by cardiac MRI.