[Acute dyspnea]

A 75 year old patient was hospitalized because of acute dyspnea. For two weeks she suffered from a flu-like illness with low-grade fever, cough, and fatigue. On auscultation systolic and diastolic murmurs were found whose intensity changed depending on the position assumed by the patient. Transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography showed a tumor in the left atrium obstructing the left ventricular inflow tract. The tumor was removed surgically because of this obstruction and the imminent danger of embolism to the peripheral arteries. The diagnosis of an atrial myxoma was confirmed intraoperatively and by histology.