title: Surgery of left atrial myxomas. Report of eleven cases and review of the literature.
abstract: Eleven patients with left atrial myxoma in a ten-year period were reviewed. They ranged from 16 to 69 years old. Eight patients were female. All tumors were located in the left atrium; one patient had multiple tumors. The main clinical presentation was congestive heart failure seen in eight patients. Ten patients had a correct pre-operative diagnosis. Echocardiography confirmed the diagnosis in seven patients, angiocardiography in two and cardiac catheterization in one. All tumors were successfully removed with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass and using a right atriotomy and trans-septal approach. Two patients underwent concomitant saphenous vein aortocoronary bypass. There were no operative deaths. Excision of the tumor resulted in marked symptomatic improvement. There have been no recurrences. A review of the pertinent literature is presented.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000601:surgery; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009232:Myxoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*