Branch retinal artery occlusion caused by a mitral valve papillary fibroelastoma.

Abstract

We studied clinicopathologically a branch retinal artery occlusion caused by an embolus from a mitral valve papillary fibroelastoma. At initial examination the patient, a 37-year-old woman, had visual acuity of 20/400 in her left eye, and eight months later her visual acuity improved to 20/20. The diagnosis required echocardiographic and radiologic studies to localize the lesion. The mitral valve papillary fibroelastoma was successfully treated with tumor resection involving the mitral valve. It is important to diagnose intracardiac papillary fibroelastoma, because it can cause recurrent arterial embolization and because it responds favorably to tumor resection.