Left Atrial Myxoma With Concurrent Saddle Pulmonary Embolism and Duke’s B Colorectal Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

A 64-year-old male with previous Duke’s B adenocarcinoma of the colon, successfully treated with surgery and chemotherapy presented several months later with dyspnoea and atrial fibrillation. Investigations showed that he had a left atrial myxoma and a concurrent saddle pulmonary embolus. Full anticoagulation with unfractioned heparin was administered followed by surgical resection of the myxoma. Links between pulmonary emboli and underlying carcinoma are well established. However, to our knowledge, this is only the second case in the English literature where a patient has had both an adenocarcinoma of the colon and a myxoma. There are no links between a pulmonary saddle embolism and left atrial myxoma or between a right sided myxoma and a pulmonary saddle embolus and where the embolism is not a fragment of the myxoma. J Med Cases. 2013;4(6):398-401 doi: https://doi.org/10.4021/jmc1243w