OBJECTIVE: To report the case of a patient with pericardial lipoma diagnosed unexpectedly during heart failure investigation with diagnosis definitive after surgery.
METHODS: A review of medical records and analysis of photographic records of the diagnostic exams, to which the patient was submitted, were performed and a literature review was carried out.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: Cardiac lipomas are very rare neoplasms in the population. Often patients with these tumors are asymptomatic or with nonspecific symptomatology. Echocardiographic diagnosis is sometimes quite difficult. Surgical treatment is reserved for cases that bring discomfort or risk to the patient. In the current case, the surgical procedure had therapeutic and diagnostic importance. This case demonstrates the importance of associating diagnostic methods in the search for an accurate diagnosis. This patient was medicated and had side effects of the therapy, because she had the diagnosis initially given only by the chest X-ray.
