Left Atrial Myxoma: Surgical Cure

¹ Chief, Thoracic Surgery Department, Highland Alameda County Hospital.
² Thoracic Surgical Resident, Samuel Merritt Hospital.

This is a six year case history of a 46 year-old woman who had successful removal of a myxoma. There was a four year interval between peripheral tumor embolectomy and primary tumor removal.

Cardiac myxomas most often simulate rheumatic heart disease and, to a lesser degree, bacterial endocarditis. Their erratic behavior can be explained on the basis of mechanical interference with heart action and their tendency to discharge multiple emboli.

Diagnosis by clinical features only is uncertain so that angiocardiography is being more frequently employed as it tends to show the filling defect created by the tumor. It is imperative that once the diagnosis is established, surgery be employed.