Surgical treatment of 22 cardiac myxomas: A review

Twenty-two cases of cardiac myxomas were reviewed. The patients were 8 men and 14 women ranging in age from 12 to 73 (mean: 50.8 +/- 16. 6) at operation. They suffered from dyspnea, palpitation, and cough, similar to mitral disease symptoms, and cerebral emboli in 6 patients (30%) with left atrial myxomas. Echocardiography, especially transesophageal, was useful in diagnosing cardiac tumors and location. In 20 cases, tumors were at the left atrium and at the right in 2. Left atrial myxomas were approached through a septal incision in 17 cases; a large circular incision of the biatrium was used in 3 patients with large tumors or mitral regurgitation. Left atrial myxomas were attached to the atrial septum in 17 cases, the posterior wall of the left atrium in 2, and near the posterior commissure of the mitral valve in 1. Right atrial myxomas were attached to the atrial septum in 1 and posterior wall beside the inferior vena cava in 1. Resected myxomas weighed from 10 to 90 (mean: 39.1 +/- 19.1) g. No correlation was seen between features such as neurologic symptoms, feeding artery on coronary angiography, or functional status and tumor weight. No recurrence was seen.