Surgical approach to a left ventricular myxoma guided by transesophageal and epicardial dual-view echocardiography: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Left ventricular myxoma is a rare benign cardiac neoplasm. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice, and complete removal is mandatory to prevent late recurrence.


METHODS
Here, we report a case of myxoma originating from the anterolateral wall of the left ventricle with a very short stalk. Accordingly, the transaortic and transmitral approaches were considered inadequate; therefore, a transventricular approach was adopted. To minimize the incidence of complications associated with a left ventriculotomy, its length was designed to be as short as possible. To plan a proper ventriculotomy, measurements were taken by the combined use of transesophageal echocardiography and epicardial direct echocardiography.


CONCLUSIONS
This method provided a good guide without being a complicated technique. The tumor and its attachment were clearly visualized and completely resected in an en bloc fashion. No recurrence has occurred to date.
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Center, Sendai Kosei Hospital, 4-15, Hirose-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-0873, Japan. hamasaki-ths@umin.ac.jp.|Second Department of Surgery, Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine, 2-2-2, Iida-Nishi, Yamagata, 990-9585, Japan. hamasaki-ths@umin.ac.jp.
Azumi
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6284-1911
A
Hamasaki
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Center, Sendai Kosei Hospital, 4-15, Hirose-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-0873, Japan.|Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, 3-21-36, Asahi-cho, Maebashi, 371-0014, Japan.
Kazunori
K
Ishikawa
Intraoperative echocardiography; Left ventricular myxoma; Surgical approach