title: Right atrial myxoma. A cause of septic pulmonary emboli in an adolescent female.
abstract: An adolescent girl presented with fever, headache, and mental status changes. Blood cultures 12 hours after admission were positive for Staphylococcus aureus. The initial evaluation did not reveal a source of the patient's sepsis. Forty-eight hours after admission a cardiac ejection click was detected. The chest radiograph showed ill-defined opacities compatible with pulmonary emboli in the right lung and a calcific density in the region of the right atrium. Echocardiogram confirmed the presence of a right atrial mass, which at surgery and upon histologic examination was a myxoma. Atrial myxomas are rare tumors in adolescents but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of suspected septic pulmonary emboli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii 96859-5000.
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Coughlin
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Knott
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D009232:Myxoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000209:etiology*; D011859:Radiography