Echocardiographic Diagnosis of Left Atrial Myxoma

Abstract

As artial myxomata are clinically serious but potentially curable tumors, early diagnosis is desirable. Left atrial myxoma usually produces signs of mitral stenosis and sometimes of mitral regurgitation as well. Although certain diagnostic clues such as variation of the clinical findings with changes in position occasionally arouse the suspicion of an atrial tumor, the diagnosis is usually made either at operation or during cardiac catheterization. 1 Goodwin JF Diagnosis of left atrial myxoma. Lancet. 1963; I: 464 Abstract Scopus (126) Google Scholar , 2 Greenwood FW Profile of atrial myxoma. Amer J Cardiol. 1968; 21: 367 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (124) Google Scholar , 3 Goodwin JF Stanfield CA Steiner RE Clinical features of the left atrial myxoma. Thorax. 1962; 17: 91 Crossref PubMed Scopus (27) Google Scholar , 4 Dembo DH Cowley RA Left atrial thrombosis with ball valve action: report of a case with successful surgical removal. Arch Intern Med. 1964; 114: 139 Crossref PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar Several reports have indicated that the diagnosis may be made by reflected ultrasound. 6 Effert VS Dominig E Diagnostik intraaurikularer tumoren und grober thromben mit dem ultrraschall-echoverfahren. Dtsch Med Wschr. 1959; 84: 6 Crossref PubMed Scopus (41) Google Scholar , 7 Schattenberg TT Echocardiographic diagnosis of left atrial myxoma. Mayo Clinic Proc. 1968; 43: 620 PubMed Google Scholar This, however, has not been widely recognized. The purpose of this communication is to report a case of left atrial myxoma in which the correct diagnosis was made by echocardiography and was later confirmed by cineangiography and surgery.