Left atrial myxoma and mitral valve endocarditis--a cause and effect: a case report

We report the case of a 55-year-old man who presented with an infected left atrial myxoma that seeded a normal native mitral valve. Despite the absence of mitral regurgitation or heart failure, prior to the patient completing a course of IV antibiotic therapy we removed the tumor, replaced the mitral valve, and added 3 coronary artery bypass grafts, following a single embolic event. Although a completed course of antibiotic therapy may have allowed preservation of the native mitral valve, we believed that the risk of recurrent embolization from either the mass or the mitral valve vegetations was greater that the long-term risks of valve replacement.