Atrial myxoma - left

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Heart, section through the middle

Atrial myxoma - left

Alternative Names:

Tumor - heart; Cardiac tumor; Myxoma - atrial; Myxoma - heart tumor
Treatment:

The only effective treatment is surgical excision (removal) of the tumor. During the same procedure, some patients will also need to have their mitral valve replaced.

Myxomas may recur if the surgical removal was incomplete.

Expectations (prognosis):

The probable outcome is poor without treatment. Although a myxoma is a benign tumor, complications are common.

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One complication of untreated myxoma is embolization (tumor cells breaking off and traveling with the bloodstream), which can obstruct a blood vessel or plant a myxoma in another part of the body where it can cause symptoms. Myxoma fragments can embolize to the brain, eye, or limbs.

Another complication is the local growth of the tumor, which can obstruct blood flow through the mitral heart valve and produce clinical symptoms of mitral stenosis.

The outlook for someone who had a left atrial myxoma that has been surgically removed is good; and patients usually remain symptom-free and have a normal lifespan.
Complications:

Arrhythmias
Pulmonary edema
Peripheral emboli
Spread (metastasis) of the tumor
Local growth of the tumor, with obstruction of the mitral heart valve and symptoms of mitral stenosis; this may require emergency surgery to prevent sudden death

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if symptoms indicate you may have an atrial myxoma.