title: Detection of a small left atrial myxoma: value and limitations of four imaging modalities.
abstract: Coronary angiography in a 52-year-old woman with angina-type chest pain showed tumor circulation with feeding arteries arising from the circumflex artery. Transthoracic echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging both failed to show any intracardiac masses. A sessile mass measuring 1.5 cm in diameter attached to the atrial septum was readily detected by transesophageal echocardiography. Histologic analysis confirmed the tumor to be a myxoma. Coronary angiography may provide the first clue to the presence of a small myxoma. Transesophageal echocardiography is the imaging modality of choice for further evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Manchester Royal Infirmary, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rittoo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cotter
mesh_terms: D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009232:Myxoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging