Giant Cardiac Myxoma

Barlis, Peter; Lim, Eu Jin; Gow, Paul J.; Seevanayagam, Siven; Calafiore, Paul; Chan, Robert K.

doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2006.08.009

« Previous Next »Heart, Lung and Circulation
Volume 16, Issue 5 , Pages 389-391, October 2007

Giant Cardiac Myxoma

Peter Barlis, FRACP, MPH
- Department of Cardiology, Austin Hospital, P.O. Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia
- Corresponding author at: Department of Cardiology, Royal Brompton Hospital, Chelsea Wing, Sydney Street, London SW3 6NP, United Kingdom. Tel.: +44 20 7351 8616; fax: +44 20 7351 8614 (United Kingdom); Tel.: +61 3 9496 5571; fax: +61 3 8405 8724 (Australia).
Eu Jin Lim, MBBS
- Department of Cardiology, Austin Hospital, P.O. Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia
Paul J. Gow, FRACP, MD
- Department of Gastroenterology, Austin Hospital, P.O. Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia
Siven Seevanayagam, FRACS
- Department of Cardiac Surgery, Austin Hospital, P.O. Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia
Paul Calafiore, FRACP
- Department of Cardiology, Austin Hospital, P.O. Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia
Robert K. Chan, FRACP, PhD
- Department of Cardiology, Austin Hospital, P.O. Box 5555, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia

Although cardiac myxomas remain an uncommon group of malignancies, they are the most common form of primary cardiac tumour. Clinical presentations can be varied with local cardiac haemodynamic consequences, valvular insufficiency or even embolic phenomena. We present a case of a 46-year-old man with chronic abdominal pain and discuss a number of diagnostic challenges that were confronted up until a definitive diagnosis of cardiac myxoma was made. The resultant outcome was excellent with the patient achieving complete recovery from long term disabling symptoms.

Keyword: Right atrial myxoma