Fifteen patients (10 female and 5 male) from 13 to 73 years of age (mean age 46 years) underwent excision of atrial myxomas between 1981 and 1993 at the Chonnam University Hospital. Fourteen patients presented with exertional or resting dyspnea,
six
with palpitation, five with systemic embolization, and three with syncope. Symptoms were present from 1 week to 14 months before operation. Fourteen tumors originated from the atrial septum of left atrium and one of bilateral atrium. All tumors
were
pedunculated; tumor sizes were pedunculated; tumor sizes were variable from 2×1×1cm to 7×6×5cm. No ventricular tumors identified. The myxomas were successfully removed in all patients, either by shaving them from the atrial septum (n=7) or
excising
a portion of normal atrial septum with the tumor and ASD patch closure (n=8). There was no perioperative or late death in our experience. Follow-up is current and complete in all cases (range 6 months to 13 years). Thirteen patients are in New
York
Heart Association Class Ⅰ, and the remaining two patients are in Class Ⅱ. One recurrent left atrial myxoma was identified at 20 months after operation. In this series, excellent results were obtained by simple excision of the tumor, with or
without a
margin of normal atrial septum. Long-term clinical & echoc-ardiographic follow-up is recommended since late recurrence, although rare, has been reported.
(Korean J Thoracic Cardiovas Surg 1995;28:131-5)
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