Robotic Excision of a Papillary Fibroelastoma of the Mitral Chordae

Papillary fibroelastomas of the mitral chordae tendineae are rare, primary benign tumors. They are either incidentally diagnosed during echocardiography or discovered after transient ischemic attack, stroke, or myocardial infarction. Removal of papillary fibroelastomas should be considered, given the increased risk for embolization causing cerebrovascular accident or mortality in patients with echocardiographic evidence of papillary fibroelastoma not undergoing surgical procedures. Although fibroelastoma removal can be performed in most cases without disrupting mitral valve competency, sternotomy and minithoracotomy are the typical approaches for excision. Herein, we report the first robotic excision of a mitral chord papillary fibroelastoma. (C) 2016 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons