Results of surgical treatment of cardiac myxomas

Abstract

Aim. To determine the algorithm of in vivo diagnosis and surgical treatment of cardiac myxomas. Methods. Summarized was the experience of diagnosis and surgical treatment of 65 cases of cardiac myxomas. Examination of patients included electrocardiography, phonocardiography, radiography, angiocardiography, selective coronary angiography, two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging with contrast, a biopsy, and a morphological study. Results. Among the examined patients (mean age 42.4±1.5 years) cardiac myxomas were diagnosed, which were localized in the left and/or right chambers of the heart. All patients underwent surgery. The tactics of surgical treatment were dependant on the tumor size, its mobility, involvement of the valve apparatus and conduction pathways of the heart into the pathological process, and concomitant diseases. The prognosis of the natural course of cardiac myxomas is unfavorable. In the diagnosis of space-occupying lesions (myxomas) of the heart chambers, which are often combined with valvular pathology, the most informative are echocardiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The final verification of the diagnosis should be made using emergency and routine pathological studies. Conclusion. Timely surgical removal of the myxomas with simultaneous correction of the concomitant cardiac pathology makes it possible to restore the intracardiac haemodynamics and to prevent thromboembolic complications.