[Clinical analysis of embolism with left atrial myxomas]

We conducted a retrospective analysis examining the relationship between the tumor quality and the occurrence of systemic embolization in 16 patients who underwent surgical excision of the left atrial myxoma. Systemic embolization occured in 10 patients (63%) before surgery, in 5 of whom embolic episodes were the first manifestation of the tumor. Cerebral infarction had developed in 7 patients, TIA in 2, myocardial infarction in 2, limb ischemia in 2, and multiple infarctions in the kidney, adrenal gland, spleen and bone marrow in one. A permanent deficit remained in 6 patients (60%). Myxoma was a lobulated and gelatinous type in 9 (90%) of these patients with embolization and a solid type only in one case. When the dignosis of the left atrial myxoma with soft and fragile quality is made by echocardiography, surgical excision should be performed without delay to prevent systemic embolization.