Incidental in vivo detection of an isolated hemangioma of the aortic valve in a man with a history of renal transplantation

Hemangiomas of the cardiac valves are exceptional. To our knowledge, only ten cases of valve hemangiomas, six in the mitral and four in the tricuspid valve, have been reported in the English literature. We describe an incidentally detected aortic valve hemangioma of a 62-year-old man with chronic, degenerative aortic valve stenosis, who underwent renal transplantation 7 years before. We believe that this is the first report of a hemangioma in this localization and the first one in association with solid organ transplantation. The review of the literature of the adult cases of valve hemangioma, including this report, revealed that the average age was 47.2 years (range, 24 to 68 years). No clear sex predominance has been noted. Patients can be asymptomatic or experience sudden death. Symptomatic patients have complaints of palpitations, dyspnea, or syncopal episodes. Histologically, these valve tumors are classified as capillary, cavernous, and mixed. Mean tumor size is 1.1 cm (range, 0.6 to 2 cm). In 50% of cases the hemangioma is an incidental finding at autopsy or in a removed valve. Valve aortic hemangioma, despite its rarity, should be considered in the differential diagnosis of vascular lesions of this cardiac valve.