Occurrence of mesothelial/monocytic incidental cardiac excrescences in material from open-heart procedures: case reports and literature review.

Mesothelial/monocytic incidental cardiac excrescences (MICE) are unusual findings during the histological analysis of material from the pericardium, mediastinum, or other tissues collected in open-heart surgery. Despite their somewhat worrisome histological appearance, they show a benign clinical course, and further treatment is virtually never necessary. Hence, the importance of recognizing the entity relays in its differential diagnosis, as an unaware medical pathologist may misinterpret it for a malignant neoplasm.