Familial cardiac myxoma: emphasis on unusual clinical manifestations

This report describes familial cardiac myxoma involving parent and child. The familial occurrence of this condition, previously reported in four other families, underscores the necessity of screening all direct members of the family by echocardiography once the diagnosis of cardiac myxoma is made. Each patient presented with unusual clinical manifestations. The father, who had a right atrial myxoma associated with an atrial septal defect and mitral valve prolapse, presented with findings highly suggestive of paradoxical embolism. The daughter, who had an infected right ventricular myxoma, was initially treated for valvular subacute bacterial endocarditis before the diagnosis was made.