title: Cystic formation of the foramen ovale mimicking a right atrial myxoma.
abstract: A 65-year-old woman presented with shortness of breath, stenocardia, and tachycardia. She underwent several steps of examination. Echocardiography showed a suspicious formation in the right atrium extending into the inferior caval vein. The lesion was suspicious for a myxoma, a thrombus, or a malformation. Intraoperatively this formation presented as a cystic formation connected to the right atrial wall in the area of the foramen secundum and filled with blood and five calcified thrombi. We hypothesize that a slit-like opening in the foramen ovale produced a valve-like mechanism bulging parts of the septum secundum and produced this cystic formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Seebacher
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Binder
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wolner
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mohl
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D003560:Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D009232:Myxoma / Q000175:diagnosis