Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum is often an incidental finding but occasionally can have clinical significance.
Lipomatous hypertrophy is a benign accumulation of adipose tissue in the interatrial septum.
Risk factors:
(1) advancing age
(2) morbid obesity
(3) syndrome with multiple lipomas
If small the accumulation has little impact on the patient.
If massive then the patient may have:
(1) heart failure
(2) cardiac arrhythmias
If the condition is associated with clinical findings then the fat may need to be removed at surgery.
The diagnosis can often be made on transesophageal echocardiography due to nature of fat in the septum.
Occasionally a cardiac tumor needs to be excluded. Aspiration of the mass can be performed through an intra-atrial catheter.
