Tumor of the tricuspid valve operated on with success. Apropos of a case simulating cyanotic heart disease
Lainée, R.; Godard, S.; Le Tessier, G.; Mazurkiewicz, M.; Pinto, J.J.; Rondou, M.; Cérèze, P.; Gandjbakhch, I.
Archives des Maladies du Coeur et des Vaisseaux 78(3): 435-439
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-9683 PMID: 3923975 Document Number: 252709
The case of a 36 year old woman with a calcified tumour of the tricuspid valve is reported. The clinical signs suggested tricuspid stenosis with a right to left shunt via a patent foramen ovale simulating a cyanotic heart lesion. Preoperative diagnostic investigations were discordant. Echocardiography showed a stenotic tumoural tricuspid valve. Catheterisation and selective right ventriculography were more suggestive of dominant tricuspid incompetence. The patient was referred for surgery because of the severity of her shortness of breath and cyanosis, and tumoral involvement of the three tricuspid leaflets was found. This was removed and replaced by a bioprosthesis with good results 27 months after surgery. 17 other cases of tricuspid tumours have been previously reported. Their clinical presentation was usually that of a right ventricular tumour with stenosis of the right failure, positional syncope and pericardial effusion in the malignant forms. Signs of tricuspid stenosis with cyanosis and polycythaemia are very rare. The relative diagnostic values of angiography and echocardiography are discussed.