[Comparison of echocardiographic and morphological findings in patients with left atrial myxoma]

Echocardiography was routinely used in evaluating patients with cardiac myxoma, reflecting the improved capability of this technique to assess morphological findings. Recent studies reported that the immunologic findings, such as CRP(C-reactive protein) and IL-6(interleukin-6), were related to the clinical features in patients with cardiac myxoma. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify whether the morphological findings were related to the immunologic and pathologic results in patients with cardiac myxoma. We studied 6 patients (2 men; mean age +/- SD, 62.5 +/- 10.4 years) with cardiac myxoma. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography were used to assess morphological findings. All patients had not symptoms associated with obstruction of the intracardiac blood flow. Five of these 6 patients with increased levels of IL-6 had clinical features. In conclusion, assessment of morphological findings by echocardiography has the potential to infer the immunologic and pathologic results in patients with cardiac myxoma.