Epipericardial Fat Necrosis: A Misdiagnosed Condition

Epipericardial fat necrosis is a benign and self-limited condition that mainly curses with acute pleuritic chest pain and therefore must be an important differential diagnosis for patients in emergency department (ED). The knowledge of characteristics symptoms and correct management may avoid misdiagnosis or mistakes with other severe conditions like pulmonary embolism, pericarditis or acute coronary disease.

Despite the importance of this entity, only fewer than 40 cases have been reported since 1957, when the condition was first described.

We have seen a couple of similar cases in our institution during a short period of time, and we suspect that these numbers doesn't mean the real prevalence of epipericardial fat necrosis, so maybe this condition could be underdiagnosed. Instead, there isn't a study that tried to estimate an incidence of this entity.