Cardiac tumor masquerading as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

ABSTRACT

We report a case of a large right atrial hemangioma masquerading as a clinical presentation of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in a 57-year-old man, who was wrongfully treated with nocturnal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) prior to surgical consultation. The exact diagnosis was made during the investigation for his cardiac arrhythmia. A large right atrial tumor obstructing the tricuspid valve intermittently was noted on cardiac echocardiography. His symptoms became worse when the patient was lying flat. Tumor excision under cardiopulmonary bypass was carried out, which confirmed the preoperative finding of cardiac hemangioma. The patient underwent uneventful recovery postoperatively and the symptoms of OSAS settled after surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of right atrial tumor masquerading as a clinical presentation of OSAS.