An atypical radiographic appearance of a cardiac myxoma: case report and review of the literature

Cardiac myxomas are the most common primary cardiac tumours in adults. They usually present as a solitary, solid mass in the left atrium. Their most common radiographic appearance is that of a hypodense lesion on computed tomography (CT) and inhomogeneous lesion (hypo to isointense on T1 sequences and hyperintense on T2 sequences) on magnetic resonance (MR) with some contrast enhancement. However, different patterns are recognized due to secondary changes within thetumour. We present a case of a 60-year-old man with a hypervascular myxoma. The lesion was a sessile mass located in the left atrium and rigidly attached to the interatrial septum. On CT and MR, it showed vivid contrast enhancement due to intratumoural flush of arterial blood form branches of dominant left circumflex artery and a possible fistula to the left atrium. Furthermore, we review the literature for different atypical radiographic appearances of myxomas