Excision of left ventricular papillary fibroelastoma via right minithoracotomy

Papillary fibroelastoma are benign avascular cardiac tumors usually attached with a stalk that most commonly arise at the aortic valvular endocardium with the left ventricle as the predominant nonvalvular location.(1) The surgical options available to remove a tumor in the left ventricle are from the aorta, the mitral annulus, or via a ventriculot-omy.(1,2) We report successful excision of a papillary fibroe-lastoma at the apex of the left ventricle via a right minithoracotomy and the mitral annulus.