Clinical Manifestations in Atrial Myxoma

In Nepal, we started regular open-heart surgery since February 1997. Primary tumors of the heart are rare and the commonest is myxoma. Left atrium is the commonest site of occurrence. There is diagnostic difficulty in this most frequent benign tumor of the heart. We present 5 cases of left atrial myxomas who presented with different clinical features. Among them 4 cases were diagnosed preoperatively by transthoracic echocardiography. The youngest was 32 years whereas the oldest was 58 years (mean 49.8 years) and 4 of them were female. Among them, one presented with right unilobar pulmonary venous hypertension; another mimicking mitral stenosis with large left atrial clot; with embolization to brain with motor the third aphasia and the remaining two had only constitutional symptoms. All of them were discharged with successful removal of tumor and are surviving at present with no features of recurrence. There are no pathognomic features of atrial myxoma. All suspected cases must be subjected for echocardiography. With the advent of open-heart surgery, extirpation of tumors with good outcome has been a regular service in our hospital. Key Words: Atrial myxoma, Transthoracic Echocardiography, Embolization, Recurrence