This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Prêtre, R. Articles by Lerch, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Prêtre, R. Articles by Lerch, R.

(Circulation. 1998;97:2186-2187.)
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.

Images in Cardiovascular Medicine

Three-dimensional Imaging of Atrial Myxoma

René Prêtre, MD; Cédric Vuille, MD; Sophie Diebold-Berger, MD; ; René Lerch, MD

From the Département de Chirurgie (R.P.), Service de Cardiologie (C.V., R.L.), and Division de Pathologie clinique (S.D.-B.), Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Switzerland.

Correspondence to René Prêtre, MD, Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, 100 Rämistr, 8091 Zürich, Switzerland.

A 36-year-old man was admitted for investigation of night sweats and increasing exertional dyspnea. On clinical examination, he was afebrile, with normal blood pressure, regular cardiac rhythm, and no signs of cardiac failure. Auscultation revealed a holosystolic murmur, a diastolic rumbling, and an early diastolic sound ("tumor plop"). Routine blood tests were normal except for a sedimentation rate of 80 mm/h (normal, <10 mm/h) and a platelet count at 430 000/L (normal range, 150 000 to 300 000/L).

Echocardiography revealed a voluminous, mobile, and spherical tumor in the left atrium attached to the interatrial septum, suggesting myxoma. There was moderate mitral regurgitation. Size, location, and motion of the tumor were particularly well delineated by transesophageal echocardiography with three-dimensional reconstruction (Figure 1). The echocardiographic findings were confirmed by MRI (Figure 2).

View larger version (82K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography showing a left atrial mass attached by stalk to interatrial septum, prolapsing through mitral valve during ventricular diastole.

View larger version (157K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2. MRI showing mass in left atrium prolapsing through mitral valve during ventricular diastole.

The patient underwent resection of the myxoma and repair of the mitral valve under cardiopulmonary bypass and moderate hypothermia. The myxoma was a 7x5x5-cm tumor attached to the atrial septum, and it was removed with part of the interatrial septum (Figure 3). The atrial defect was closed with a patch of autologous pericardium. Mitral regurgitation was due to prolapse of the anterior leaflet. Shortening of elongated chordae and ring annuloplasty restored valve competence, as assessed by intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Motto, P. Ballo, A. Ragazzini, M. Rizzo, S. Mondillo, and S. A. Faraguti An Unusual Left Atrial Mass in a 72-Year-Old Patient With Cardiac Tamponade J. Ultrasound Med., July 1, 2007; 26(7): 989 - 991. [Full Text] [PDF]