Multimodality imaging in the diagnosis of a right atrial lipoma with normal electrocardiogram: a case description
Letter to the Editor

Multimodality imaging in the diagnosis of a right atrial lipoma with normal electrocardiogram: a case description

Yi-Meng Zhu1#, Ruo-Nan Wang1#, Dao-Ying Wang2

1The First Clinical Medical College of Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, China; 2Department of PET/CT Center, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, Lanzhou, China

#These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Dao-Ying Wang, Master of Medicine. Department of PET/CT Center, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 204, Donggang West Road, Chengguan District, Lanzhou 730000, China. Email: Dr_wangdaoying@126.com.

Submitted Jan 23, 2026. Accepted for publication May 06, 2026. Published online Jun 09, 2026.

doi: 10.21037/qims-2026-1-0188

Introduction

Cardiac lipoma is a rare primary benign neoplasm composed of mature adipose tissue. It is usually encapsulated, although infiltrative lesions have also been reported. It accounts for approximately 8.4% of all primary cardiac tumors and may arise from the subendocardium, myocardium, or subepicardium, thereby occurring in any cardiac chamber (1,2). Although cardiac lipomas are often slow-growing and clinically silent, their manifestations depend on tumor size and location. Myocardial involvement may affect the cardiac conduction system, leading to arrhythmias, syncope, or even sudden death, whereas larger intracavitary lesions may result in hemodynamic obstruction, valvular dysfunction, or cardiac compression (3). Surgical resection is generally recommended for symptomatic, enlarging, or hemodynamically significant tumors, particularly in the presence of arrhythmias or obstructive complications (4).

We report the case of a patient admitted to Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital on August 11, 2025, for surgical treatment of a right atrial (RA) mass. Although RA tumors may affect cardiac conduction, the patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG) findings were normal. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of cardiac lipoma. Multimodal imaging facilitated the preoperative diagnosis and surgical planning. This case highlights important diagnostic features, therapeutic challenges, and key histopathological features that may aid clinicians and pathologists in the recognition and optimal management of this rare cardiac neoplasm.

Case presentation

A 51-year-old man presented with a 3-year history of exertional chest tightness and dyspnea, which had worsened over the preceding 2 weeks. On admission, physical examination revealed a blood pressure of 147/88 mmHg and a heart rate of 78 beats per minute. Cardiac auscultation was unremarkable, with no audible murmurs. The ECG demonstrated sinus rhythm without significant abnormalities (Figure 1A). Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) revealed a solid, ovoid mass measuring approximately 39 mm × 27 mm in the right atrium. The mass exhibited mixed echogenicity with well-defined borders and significant deformability consistent with the cardiac cycle. No chamber obstruction or hemodynamic compromise was observed. An initial diagnosis of a RA space-occupying lesion, possibly a myxoma, was considered (Figure 1B,1C). However, computed tomography (CT) imaging subsequently revealed a well-circumscribed, homogeneous lesion with low attenuation values characteristic of adipose tissue (−99 Hounsfield units) (Figure 2A). Further, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging revealed a round lesion (37 mm × 26 mm) in the right atrium, with signal intensity isointense to subcutaneous fat. Signal suppression was observed on fat-saturation sequences. Neither first-pass perfusion nor late gadolinium enhancement sequences showed abnormal enhancement (Figure 2B,2C), supporting a diagnosis of RA lipoma.

Figure 1 Contrasting imaging findings of a right atrial mass. (A) Normal ECG. (B,C) Four-chamber TTE views; arrows indicate the mass in the right atrium. ECG, electrocardiogram; TTE, transthoracic echocardiography.
Figure 2 Multimodality imaging findings of a right atrial lipoma. (A) CT revealed a homogeneous hypodense lesion. (B) T1-weighted imaging revealed a round, hyperintense mass in the right atrium. (C) Fat-saturation sequence showed signal loss, consistent with pure fat composition, with a hypointense rim surrounding the lesion. Arrows indicate the tumor. CT, computed tomography.

The patient subsequently underwent surgical resection of the cardiac mass. Intraoperative exploration revealed a yellow, lipid-like mass, measuring approximately 4 cm × 3 cm × 1 cm. Intraoperatively, the tumor was found to be firm in consistency, largely lacking a complete fibrous capsule, with ill-defined boundaries with the adjacent myocardium (Figure 3A). Histopathological examination revealed mature adipocytes without significant cellular atypia. Notably, a focal fibrous capsule was identified in some areas. Cardiomyocytes and small vascular structures were observed within or at the periphery of the lesion, indicating entrapment and intermingling of the adjacent myocardial tissue. These histologic findings were consistent with the partially ill-defined intraoperative margins at the atrial wall. Together, these gross and microscopic features confirmed the diagnosis of RA lipoma (Figure 3B).

Figure 3 Gross specimen and histopathological section. (A) Gross specimen of the resected mass. (B) Histopathology examination showed mature adipocytes without significant atypia, with a focal fibrous capsule observed (hematoxylin-eosin staining, ×200).

Postoperative follow-up echocardiography confirmed complete resection of the mass with no residual abnormal echoes (Figure 4). The postoperative recovery was uneventful, with no major perioperative complications. The patient’s symptoms of chest tightness and dyspnea showed improvement before discharge. At the 6-month telephone follow-up, the patient remained in good general condition, with marked relief of the preoperative exertional symptoms, and no obvious palpitations, syncope, or other newly developed discomfort.

Figure 4 Postoperative echocardiography demonstrated complete resection of the mass in the right atrium, with no residual tumor observed. The arrow indicates the right atrial cavity. RA, right atrium.

In the present case, a large RA lipoma was successfully diagnosed and surgically resected. At initial presentation, TTE raised suspicion for cardiac myxoma. Two-dimensional echocardiography revealed an ovoid, well-circumscribed mass, exhibiting significant deformation throughout the cardiac cycle, indicative of soft-tissue consistency. Doppler interrogation was employed to assess tumor-associated hemodynamic disturbances. Given the inherent limitations of echocardiography in definitive tissue characterization, multimodality imaging was subsequently performed. CT established the diagnosis by revealing pathognomonic fatty attenuation of the mass. CMR imaging further characterized the histological composition of the mass, which exhibited significant signal loss on fat-saturation sequences, a lack of perfusion on first-pass imaging, and no late gadolinium enhancement. These imaging findings precisely delineated the anatomical relationships between the tumor and the myocardial wall, cardiac chambers, and pericardium, thereby providing critical guidance for surgical planning.

Ethical statement

All procedures in this study were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, and with the Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments. Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this article and the accompanying images. A copy of the written consent form is available for review by the editorial office of this journal.

Discussion

Cardiac lipoma is a rare benign primary cardiac tumor composed of mature adipose tissue. Its clinical significance depends mainly on tumor size, location, and involvement of adjacent structures. Although many lesions are indolent or incidentally detected, larger or unfavorably located tumors may cause arrhythmias, hemodynamic compromise, syncope, and even sudden cardiac death. Accurate preoperative diagnosis is therefore essential.

Multimodality imaging is central to the evaluation of cardiac lipoma, as it facilitates lesion detection, tissue characterization, differential diagnosis, and surgical planning. TTE serves as the first-line modality for identifying intracardiac masses and assessing their size, attachment, mobility, and hemodynamic effects; however, its ability to define tissue composition is limited. CT increases diagnostic specificity by demonstrating homogeneous fat attenuation and a lack of enhancement, while CMR imaging provides the most reliable tissue characterization through fat-equivalent signal intensity, suppression on fat-saturated sequences, and absent or minimal enhancement (5). In the present case, the integration of TTE, CT, and CMR enabled a confident preoperative diagnosis and informed surgical planning.

An important differential diagnosis is cardiac myxoma. Although both lesions may present as intracardiac masses on echocardiography, cardiac lipomas more often involve the right atrium, left ventricle, or pericardium, and are usually broad-based, sessile, and relatively less mobile. Conversely, myxomas typically arise in the left atrium, most often from the fossa ovalis, and are commonly pedunculated with variable mobility. This distinction is clinically relevant, as diagnostic uncertainty may affect the threshold for surgery and operative planning. In this setting, CMR imaging is particularly useful because of its superior soft-tissue characterization.

A focused review of previously reported RA lipomas further contextualizes the present case. As summarized in Table 1, published cases show substantial heterogeneity in presentation, anatomical origin, morphology, and ECG findings. Clinical manifestations range from incidental detection to palpitations, dyspnea, chest discomfort, syncope, arrhythmia-related symptoms, and right-sided inflow obstruction. Among the 31 RA lipoma cases reviewed, 14 (45.2%) had abnormal ECG findings, 7 (22.6%) had normal ECG findings, and 10 (32.3%) did not report ECG findings. Among the 21 cases with explicit ECG documentation, 66.7% had abnormal ECG findings and 33.3% had normal ECG findings. These data indicate that ECG abnormalities are common but not universal, and a normal ECG does not exclude a clinically significant RA mass.

Table 1

Concise comparison of published cases of RA cardiac lipoma

Case reports ECG Size of lipoma (cm) Presenting symptoms Arrhythmia Encapsulation Anatomic location
Mullen et al., 1995 (6) – 25×15×8 Reduced exercise tolerance; exertional dyspnea – Encapsulated RA wall; predominantly intrapericardial/extracavitary
Sankar et al., 1998 (7) Normal 5×4 Palpitations Palpitations Encapsulated Intracavitary; attached to the RA free wall
Maurea et al., 2001 (8) Abnormal 7×3×3 Respiratory distress; palpitations Supraventricular ectopic beats Well-demarcated Biatrial/interatrial septal involvement; infiltrative/intramural
Pêgo-Fernandes et al., 2003 (9) Abnormal 5.0×4.5×4.0 Non-specific symptoms; near-incidental detection – Encapsulated/true lipoma Right atrium near the tricuspid annulus; likely intracavitary/subendocardial
Smith, 2007 (10) – 7×4×2; 6×3×2; 4×2.5×1.5 Fatigue; progressive dyspnea – Consistent with true lipomas Multiple atrial lipomas; partly transmural
Gulmez et al., 2009 (11) Normal 5×4×4 Asymptomatic/incidental finding – True lipoma RA posterior wall/septal region with intracavitary protrusion
Joaquim et al., 2009 (12) Abnormal 5.5×5.3 Fatigue; tachycardia; syncope Ventricular and supraventricular extrasystoles; non-sustained paroxysmal atrial tachycardia Encapsulated; fibrolipoma RA wall; mural/intramural
Ceresa et al., 2010 (13) Abnormal – Symptomatic after tumor enlargement Atrial flutter Histologically confirmed lipoma Atrial septum with RA involvement
Alameddine et al., 2011 (14) – 15×13×6 Exertional dyspnea; dry cough No specific preoperative arrhythmia reported Generally encapsulated True RA intramyocardial/intramural lipoma
Khalili et al., 2015 (15) Abnormal 11.0×7.5 Dyspnea; fatigue; tamponade-like presentation Atrial fibrillation Thinly encapsulated Interatrial septum/right atrium; predominantly intracavitary
Habertheuer et al., 2014 (16) Abnormal 5.5 Recurrent dyspnea; obstructive physiology Premature atrial complexes Well-circumscribed; true lipoma Giant obstructive intracavitary RA mass involving the free wall
Barbuto et al., 2015 (17) Normal 7.6×5.5 Exertional shortness of breath – Encapsulated Giant subendocardial intracavitary lipoma arising from the RA free wall
Singh et al., 2015 (1) Abnormal 5.6×5.0; 6.0×6.0 Dizziness; presyncope – Well encapsulated Right atrium, attached to the free wall near the SVC; also attached to the atrial septum
Wang et al., 2015 (18) Normal 3.0×1.5; 3.2×1.7×0.7 Asymptomatic/incidental finding – Well encapsulated Intramyocardial lipoma of the RA free wall
Wu et al., 2015 (19) – 10.2×7.5×3.8; 14×11 Recurrent exertional chest discomfort – Well encapsulated Giant epicardial/intrapericardial lipoma originating from the right atrium and based predominantly on the free wall
Rainer et al., 2016 (20) Abnormal 7.7×5.5×4 Incidentally detected during work-up for acute limb ischemia Frequent premature atrial beats Encapsulated Intra-atrial RA lipoma
Lapinskas et al., 2017 (21) – 4.2×2.5; 3.2×2.7×4.9 Dizziness; increased fatigue – – Right atrium; attached/adherent to the interatrial septum
Naseerullah et al., 2018 (22) Normal 4.0×5.7; 8.0×7.0 Chest pain; palpitations; dizziness Palpitations; postoperative junctional bradycardia Well encapsulated Large intra-atrial mass involving the atrial septum, RA wall, and SVC-RA junction
Bath et al., 2019 (23) – 3.3×2.9; 3.0×4.3×5.9 Asymptomatic/incidental finding – Encapsulated RA lipoma arising from the interatrial septum
D’Errico et al., 2019 (24) Normal 4.0×3.0×3.0; additional nodules up to 1.0 Sudden collapse and sudden death Fatal conduction disorder inferred at autopsy Encapsulated main mass; multiple lipomas Multiple RA lipomas involving the interatrial septum and subendocardial RA wall
Galvaing et al., 2022 (25) – 15.5×8.5×6.0 Persistent epigastric pain – – Large lipoma invading both the pericardium and right atrium; filling the right atrium and contacting the tricuspid valve
Bajdechi et al., 2022 (26) Abnormal 6.5×5.5×3.5 Asymptomatic/incidental finding – Encapsulated RA free wall/anterior wall; occupying almost the entire RA cavity
Piran et al., 2022 (27) Abnormal 5.0×3.0×4.0 Right upper abdominal pain; progressive dyspnea Atrial fibrillation; sporadic ventricular extrasystoles Encapsulated Right atrium, basal and medial to the IVC; partial tricuspid obstruction
Chen et al., 2022 (28) Abnormal 4.0×4.4; 3.0×4.0 Exertional chest tightness; shortness of breath; occasional chest pain – – Right atrium; attached to the atrial septum on the RA side by a small pedicle
Arévalo-Santa-María et al., 2023 (29) Abnormal 8.3×7.7×5.3 Palpitations; precordial pain History of atrial flutter; nodal bradycardia on admission ECG – Right atrium; apparently implanted in the interatrial septum/coronary sinus region and prolapsing through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle
Yan et al., 2025 (30) – 4.8×3.8×3.4; 5.0×4.0 Asymptomatic/incidental finding – Intact capsule Right atrium and SVC; broad-based lesion extending from the right atrium into the SVC
Cai et al., 2025 (31) – 3.0×1.9; 4.0×2.0 Palpitations; chest tightness – – RA lipoma with fat necrosis and calcification
Wen et al., 2025 (32) – 6.0×4.1 Palpitations; fatigue; occasional dry cough – Completely encapsulated RA mass closely attached to the RA wall; tumor base on the anterolateral free wall
Sharma et al., 2025 (33) Abnormal 3.8×2.9 Facial swelling; class III dyspnea – Well-circumscribed/pedunculated Right atrium; broad-based attachment to the RA free wall near the atrioventricular junction
Wang et al., 2025 (3) Abnormal 3.7×3.2 Asymptomatic/incidental finding during surveillance – Encapsulated Right atrium; attached to the interatrial septum near the SVC
Todurov et al., 2026 (34) Normal 17×10×14 Progressive exertional dyspnea; exercise intolerance; fatigue; palpitations; mild peripheral edema History of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation Well-circumscribed Giant RA lipoma compressing/encasing the RA and densely adherent to the right atrioventricular groove

–, not reported. ECG, electrocardiogram; IVC, inferior vena cava; RA, right atrial; SVC, superior vena cava.

Tumor morphology has direct surgical implications. Most cardiac lipomas are encapsulated and well circumscribed, facilitating dissection and complete excision. Conversely, non-encapsulated or poorly demarcated lesions may show infiltrative, intramural, or transmural growth, increasing operative difficulty and the risk of incomplete resection, myocardial injury, or conduction-system involvement. In the present case, histological identification of adipose tissue intermingled with cardiomyocytes supported myocardial involvement rather than a purely encapsulated lesion, which had clear surgical relevance.

Surgical management should therefore be individualized. Imaging surveillance may be appropriate for small, asymptomatic, hemodynamically silent, and stable lesions. Surgery should be considered when symptoms develop, tumor size increases, arrhythmia or obstruction is present, the diagnosis remains uncertain, or imaging suggests broad attachment, poor demarcation, or myocardial infiltration. The present case supports this approach: the patient had exertional symptoms, a sizable RA lesion, and imaging findings indicative of clinically relevant structural involvement, all of which favored resection. The uneventful postoperative course and pathological confirmation further support the appropriateness of surgical intervention.

In summary, RA lipoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of RA masses, even when the ECG is normal. Multimodality imaging is essential for diagnosis and operative planning, and the distinction between encapsulated and infiltrative lesions is important for surgical decision-making. By integrating a comparative review, imaging-pathology concordance, and case-specific surgical considerations, the present case contributes clinically relevant evidence to the limited literature on RA lipoma.

Acknowledgments

None.

Footnote

Funding: This study was supported by the Intramural Scientific Research Project of Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital (No. 20GSSY1-20), the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province (No. 25JRRA290), and the Science and Technology Program of Lanzhou City (No. 2024-9-12).

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://qims.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/qims-2026-1-0188/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, and with the Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments. Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this study and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the editorial office of this journal.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

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(English Language Editor: L. Huleatt)

Cite this article as: Zhu YM, Wang RN, Wang DY. Multimodality imaging in the diagnosis of a right atrial lipoma with normal electrocardiogram: a case description. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2026;16(7):593. doi: 10.21037/qims-2026-1-0188

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