Ectopic thyroid tissue in the left ventricular outflow tract

Ectopic thyroid tissue in the heart (struma cordis) is rare. The only report from a hemodynamically significant obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) by a heterotopic thyroid gland was published in 1988. In our patient, a 42-year-old woman with recurrent chest pain, two spheric cardiac tumors were diagnosed by transthoracal echocardiography. One of the tumors, obstructing the LVOT, could successfully be resected under cardiopulmonary bypass. The pathologic examination showed a colloid-filled ectopic thyroid gland. The second tumor, which was entirely located in the submembraneous part of the interventricular septum, had no hemodynamic influence, and was left in situ to avoid surgical damage of adjacent intraseptal structures. The midterm follow-up showed no recurrence.